Gardeners love the perennial penstemone for its excellent winter hardiness and its decorative qualities. Luscious greenery and bright saturated shades of flowers will decorate any area. For reproduction, as a rule, use the methods of cuttings, branches or division of the bush. Seed is a more painstaking and long-term growing method, but also the most effective. How to grow penstemone with this method?
Features of growing perennial penstemon
There are two main methods of seed growing: by seedling or directly into the ground. Each method requires the selection of quality seeds. Some varieties of seeds need to be planted before winter, while more capricious ones require a lot of sunlight. It is enough to sow some varieties in the period from February to March; you don't even need to cover it with a layer of earth on top. But often those varieties that are grown in seedlings are sown on the plots.
Sowing rules for penstemon
Some tricks will allow you to get abundant flowering from penstemon seeds.
Use cold stratification before growing penstemon. Then the germination of the planting material will be good.
Sow seeds into moist soil. Seeds will not germinate without moisture.
When penstemon seeds appeared in the ground, they should be covered with sand with a layer of no more than 3 mm, covered with glass or foil. Pour boiling water over the sand beforehand - this will disinfect it.
At this stage, provide the seeds with a temperature of 18-24 degrees. Then, after one or two weeks, you can wait for the first shoots.
As soon as you notice the first shoots, lower the temperature slightly to 15 degrees. Then grow the seedlings in peat pots. This is an effective method of ensuring abundant flowering in the future.
When two leaves are formed on the sprouts, start diving. By the end of May, the seedlings should get stronger, and the earth should warm up, so you can plant the plant in the ground. Maintain a distance of 30 cm between seedlings.
With this growing method, the penstemon flower blooms from July to September. If you start work 1 month earlier, then flowering will come later, its intensity will be significantly lower.
