Penstemon collapse

Bijdezee

I noticed this morning that my red penstemon seemed wilted. Checked the soil and its damp enough. The plants around it are fine. 

I decided to lift it to check for vine weevil etc, nothing there. Its a bit of a mystery. Only thing I can think of is that it's been really windy here and hot 32 c, wondering if the waving about has damaged the stems?

Its annoying because it's the only red one I have, I gave the cutting I took of it to someone 

Any thoughts on this? It's in a bucket of water right now. 

dave125

Can't really help but my red Penstemon did terribly this year. No flowers and spindly weak growth. I've potted to recover for next year - hopefully.
Luv Dave

Bright star

I’m growing a red Penstemon “Garnet” for the first time. Mine looked wilted too but as the flowers have got more developed and looking closer to opening the stems have started to straighten up. Might be just the way it grows, my Lysimachia “Beaujolais “ was the same and now it’s upright and looking good.

Bijdezee

It was very different last year. I think I'll put some cuttings in water to see if they will root and cut the main plant down and repot. 

KeenOnGreen

Our Penstemon Garnet is years old, and all of the current plants were cuttings from previous plants.  Just had a look and it's a mix of upright stems, but with quite a few that are prostrate.  I don't think it's anything to worry about.  Penstemons naturally layer, rooting when branches touch the ground.  You can speed this up, by pinning a branch to the ground with a metal pin, or stone.  It's one of the easiest ways of getting a new plant.  If you look closely you may find your plant has already done this.

Bijdezee

Thanks Ken. I've lifted it now, no self rooted parts. It's really collapsed not just wilted sadly