increase when areas are grazed intensively twice a season rather than being constantly grazed. It is not competitive with other plants in the dry prairies and does not form clumps or invade new areas. Generally they are restricted to relatively virgin prairie areas that have not been plowed or mowed and are difficult to reestablish once removed from a landscape. P. albidus also only rarely makes up part of the diet of grasshoppers, with only Melanoplus confusus and Melanoplus foedus recorded as feeding on it 3% and 1% of the time respectively. It is a common flower in its range, but does not form uniform stands or typically make up the majority of the plants in an area. Cultivation White penstemons are durable and long-lived in garden conditions, giving a good show of flowers early in the summer, however the leaves are not noticeable or showy. Indeed, it was one of the first penstemon seeds offered for sale in Europe by John Fraser in 1813, though it is not much grown there in the 21st Century. In garden settings they are adapted to full sun and neutral to somewhat alkaline soils. They are adapted to sandy loam, sand, or gravelly soils and require either largely dry soils or very well drained conditions. Seed for cultivation are collected in April–July when they have darkened in color. Their seeds require cold and moist stratification of eight weeks to sprout or to be planted outside over the winter. The coldest USDA hardiness zones where this plant is known to survive is zone 3. Gallery References External links Wolfe Lab Penstemon Database, Penstemon albidus iNaturalist, Penstemon albidus albidus Flora of Alberta Flora of Colorado Flora of Iowa Flora of Kansas Flora of Minnesota Flora of Manitoba Flora of Montana Flora of Nebraska Flora of North Dakota Flora of Oklahoma Flora of Saskatchewan Flora of South Dakota Flora of Wyoming Plants described in 1818 Flora of the South-Central United States