Penstemon help

[MrsBertBibby]

Hello, I am trying to get penstemon success, but my usual plant guru (my dad) isn't being much help.

First off, I have a fancy one grown from seed (child's choice in the GC) which has not flowered. I reckon it must have been around now for 3 years, it'svin a pot (quite a small plant) : shat do penstemon like to get them flowering?

I also have a big more standard one in a bed, which flowers fine, but I never know when and how hard to cut back, so it's a bit untidy.

Share your penstemon wisdom with me please!

I'm not sure I have wisdom to share but this is what I do;

I cut down the straggly stems around about now, once the risk of frosts has passed and I put some of the younger growth from the bits I've cut off into pots (in the shade in a greenhouse or somewhere sheltered). If I put 20 bits into 4-5 pots of expect 4-5 of them to take.

Oh and I also buy penstemon plugs off eBay for when that fails.

The one in the pot - is it root bound or does it's size smaller that the pot? If it's the latter it might be worth changing the compost it's in - I'm awful for leaving plants in pots for years and not giving them fresh soil.

I cut mine back quite savagely as they can go quite brown over winter can't they and they're all re sprouting from ground level now. I took all the brown off so cut them back by about half x