Penstemon

This long-blooming perennial with low water requirements and amazing diversity, penstemon, or beardtongue, is a top contender. In early summer, right after your spring bloomers have faded, they fill the garden with spires of foxglove-like flowers in hues ranging from soft pinks and lavenders to bold, fiery reds and electrifying blues. In addition to offering a broad palette of colors, these native wildflowers and their many cultivars come in many shapes and sizes, from dwarf varieties you can tuck into rock gardens to waist-high prairie plants that bring color and movement to the back of the border.

Hummingbirds and butterflies love this perennial.