If you want drama in the native garden, look no further. 'Blackbeard' earns its name with the darkest, most striking foliage of any native Penstemon — deep eggplant-purple leaves that hold their color all season long from spring emergence through fall. Dark purple stems rise dramatically above the low mound of purple foliage, carrying lilac-purple tubular flowers with flaring white throats high into the air. After bloom, attractive dark burgundy seed pods extend the show well into autumn. Stays strictly upright all season with no flopping — a genuinely reliable, structurally bold native cultivar that performs beautifully in borders, pollinator gardens and wildlife plantings alike.