littleflower penstemon, Penstemon procerus

Littleflower is another from the multitude of western penstemons/beardtongues, but a little different. The flowers are smaller, but still larger than a lot of those little things we've gotten down on the ground to see. Most penstemons display their flowers in more or less long spikes. These are actually a spike too, but much more comp[act at the top of the stem. It makes an interesting enough display that littleflower has found its way into gardens , particularly rock gardens, and particularly the lighter colored varieties. They grow in AK, CA, CO, ID, MT, ND, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY, AB, BC, MB, SK, and YT. Summit Co CO, 6/19/13.