[0001]Botanical classification: Penstemon schmidel.

[0002]Variety denomination: ‘Dark Amethyst’.

STATEMENT REGARDING PRIOR DISCLOSURES UNDER 37 CFR 1.77(B)(6)

[0003]The first offer for sale was made by Walters Gardens, Inc. to Prides Corner Farm on Nov. 25, 2024. Walters Gardens, Inc. obtained the new plant and all information relating thereto, from the inventor. No plants of Penstemon ‘Dark Amethyst’ have been sold anywhere in the world by any name nor has any disclosure of the new plant been made more than one year prior to the filing date of this application, and such sale or disclosure within one year was either derived directly or indirectly from the inventor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0004]The present invention relates to a new and distinct plant of Beardtongue, botanically known as Penstemon ‘Dark Amethyst’ and will be referred to hereinafter also by its cultivar name ‘Dark Amethyst’ and as the new plant. The new plant cultivar of Beardtongue is a hardy herbaceous perennial grown for landscape use.

[0005]Penstemon ‘Dark Amethyst’ is a single seedling selection derived from a cross between ‘Red Riding Hood’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,950 as the female parent and ‘Purple Riding Hood’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 23,067 as the male parent on Jun. 21, 2013, at a wholesale perennial nursery in Zeeland, Michigan. Seed was collected in late summer of 2013. All subsequent evaluations were performed in a full-sun trial garden at the same nursery with loamy-sand soil and irrigation and fertilizer as required. The individual seedling was assigned the breeder code 13-15-3 while being selected for further trials during the summer of 2015. The new plant was propagated by basal shoot cuttings at the same nursery in Zeeland, MI, and the original plant and the cuttings were evaluated over the next six years until final approval for introduction in the summer of 2021. The resultant asexually propagated cuttings have been stable and identical to the original plant in successive generations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0012]The nearest comparison cultivars are: ‘Balrocurp’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 35,761, ‘Cha Cha Purple’ (not patented), ‘Crushed Grapes’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 18,233, ‘P008S’ (aka. RED ROCKS®) (not patented), ‘Grape Taffy’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 22,567, ‘P007S’ (not patented), and ‘Sweet Grapes’ U.S. Plant Pat. No. 13,549.

[0013]‘Balrocurp’ has a shorter habit and the flowers are more reddish-purple with a whiter inner corolla tube. ‘Cha Cha Purple’ has taller habit flowers that are lighter purple on less dense and less rigid panicles, ‘Crushed Grapes’ has a much shorter habit and the peduncle is shorter with fewer flowers of more reddish-purple. ‘P008S’ has a slightly taller habit, the flowers are slightly lighter rosy-red, broader with flatter labia lobes, and the inner corolla tube is nearly white. ‘Grape Taffy’ has a shorter habit with shorter peduncles producing fewer flowers of more reddish-purple and is less winter hardy. ‘P007S’ has a taller habit, the flowers are lighter purple and have a white throat. ‘Sweet Grapes’ is shorter in habit and the flowers are more reddish-purple.

[0014]The female has a taller habit and more reddish-colored flowers. The male or pollen parent has a shorter habit and the peduncle produces fewer flowers of more bluish.

[0015]Plants of ‘Balrocurp’, ‘Crushed Grapes’, ‘Sweet Grapes’, ‘Red Riding Hood’, and ‘Purple Riding Hood’ are less persistent in the landscape.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016]The photographs of the new plant demonstrate the overall appearance of the new plant, including the unique traits. The colors are as accurate as reasonably possible with color reproductions. Ambient light spectrum, source, temperature, and direction may cause the appearance of minor variations in color. The plants used in the photograph are two-year-old plants grown in full-sun loamy-sand soil in trial gardens of a nursery in Zeeland, Michigan.

[0017]FIG. 1 shows the new plant in a trial garden landscape in early flower production.

[0018]FIG. 2 shows a close-up of the flowers and buds.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION