A clump of pretty pink penstemons is flowering in our garden today.
They are a long-blooming perennial that is drought and heat tolerant – ideal for a climate crisis – and they are attractive to bees and other pollinators. The common name beardtongue comes from the long and hairy stamen which looks like a tongue located in the center of the lip-shaped flowers.
Penstemons have been used for hundreds of years by Native Americans as one of their medicinal plants. They treated toothaches by chewing the root pulp of this plant and then placing it in the cavity. They also used penstemon to prevent inflammation and accelerate healing of the open wounds.
This flower represents courage and spiritual knowledge.
Ideal for drought times is this flower
with toothache-healing secret power
Ruth's Reflections 
I often imagine what it would have been like to live in a time when you couldn’t go to a dentist or to the Emergency Department.
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I guess there’d be lot of amateur tooth-pulling.
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Great info about therapeutic use for penstemons Ruth – I have had different colours for a few years – love the way they just keep on flowering
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