Scientific Name: Penstemon parryi
Alternate Common Names: Parry’s Beardtongue
Native Range: Arizona, Sonora
Attracts: hummingbirds, butterflies
Plant Type: perennial
Flower Colors: pink
Bloom period: March-May
Mature Size (w x h): 24″ x 48″ (61 x  122 mm)
Hardiness: 0°F/-18°C
Water Needs: low
Light: full sun

This tough desert wildflower produces wands of hot pink flowers that brighten desert roadsides in early spring, attracting resident and migrant hummingbirds and other pollinators. Penstemons are generally short-lived perennials but can survive for many years and form substantial clumps where conditions are right. The seeds germinate in fall, and mature plants overwinter as ground-hugging rosettes of leathery leaves. Penstemons occur across the contiguous United States and Mexico to northern Central America. “Penstemon” and “beardtongue” refer to the often fuzzy or hairy staminode, an infertile stamen, and the species name honors Charles Christopher Parry (1823-1890), an English-born American physician and botanist.