Penstemon, Smooth aka Beardtongue (Penstemon digitalis)

The elegant white clusters of Smooth Penstemon, known too as Smooth White Beardtongue or Mississippi Beardtongue, make for an attractive clump-forming native perennial to grace your natural landscape. This is the only Penstemon that grows well in clay soil, and is a great choice for poorly drained soils. Easily distinguished from fellow Penstemons by this quality and its creamy flowers alike, this may be the idea Penstemon for your specific soil type.  Penstemons are masters at networking— as in, they excel in pollinator attraction. Their common name Beardtongue references the hair-like filaments that line their stamens and the protruding lower petal of their tubular blossoms; these force bees deeper into the flower. As bees struggle to wriggle their ways out, it positions the anthers of the flower in such a way that they wrap around the insect to adhere pollen just where it should be aligned to meet the stigma of the bee’s next floral treat. They have defined guiding ‘runways’ to assu