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Products > Penstemon heterophyllus 'Margarita BOP'
 
Penstemon heterophyllus 'Margarita BOP' - Blue Bedder

Note: This plant is no longer in stock. This is an archive page preserved for informational use.  
Image of Penstemon heterophyllus 'Margarita BOP'
[2nd Image]
Habit and Cultural Information
Category: Perennial
Family: Scrophulariaceae (Figworts)
Origin: California (U.S.A.)
California Native (Plant List): Yes
Evergreen: Yes
Flower Color: Blue Violet
Bloomtime: Spring/Summer
Height: 1-3 feet
Width: 1-2 feet
Exposure: Full Sun
Summer Dry: Yes
Irrigation (H2O Info): Low Water Needs
Winter Hardiness: 0-10° F
Penstemon heterophyllus 'Margarita BOP' (Blue Bedder) - A sub shrub/perennial to 2 feet tall with an equal spread that has glabrous linear deep green leaves. Flowering commences in late spring and early summer with yellow-tinged buds opening to bright blue flowers that are tinged a rose-purple color and eventually age to purple. Drought and heat tolerant and best cultivated in warm, sunny, well-drained sites. Hardy to 10 F. in California. The species is found in the coastal mountain ranges and the northern Sierra Nevada foothills where it grows as a component of grassland, chaparral, oak woodland and forest plant communities. This selection from Bert Wilson of Las Pilitas Nursery is noted for its tolerance of a wide range of garden conditions. Most people note that this cultivar is longer lived than other cultivars of this species. Las Pilitas Nursery says that this "seedling that came up sometime in the early 1980s. Every year it would flower and be gorgeous clear sky blue, fading to purple. We've never watered it nor maintained it. Every year we talked about how beautiful, neat, clean it was. The bicycles, skateboards and dogs have run over it tens of times but it still looks good at the bottom off the porch. The straight species lasts 5-10 years here this plant still looks young after 7-10 years. This plant will 'key' to P. heterophyllus but we believe it is a second generation hybrid with P. laetus." The name 'Margarita BOP' is in combination of "Margarita" in reference to Santa Margarita where Las Pilitas Nursery is located and the acronym BOP for "Back Of Porch", where the chance seedling was discovered. The name for the genus comes from the Greek word 'penta' meaning "five" in reference to the occurrence of an infertile fifth stamen. The specific epithet comes from the Greek words 'hetero' meaning "different' and 'phylla' meaning "leaves" in reference to the leaves being different on the same plant. Other common names include Bunchleaf Penstemon and Foothill Penstemon. Though long placed in the Figwort family (Scrophulariaceae) it has more recently been included in the vastly expanded Plantain family, the Plantaginaceae. We have been growing this great plant since 2001. 

The information displayed on this page about Penstemon heterophyllus 'Margarita BOP' is based on our research conducted about this plant from books in our nursery library as well as from information that is provided by reliable online resources. We also have included our own observations made about it as it grew in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers when we had them in our nursery field. We also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.

 
We closed for regular business at the end of 2025 in order for the property to be developed for affordable housing.
Our gates remain closed but we will open them by appointment to interested parties through August 21st to liquidate remaining plants, supplies and equipment.
The plants remaining in the field are listed on our
Live Inventory Page.
 
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