Penstemon digitalis species, which can be important for taxonomy. Scientists estimated the genome size for 40% of the species in the genus; using "Flow Cytometry." "Penstemon digitalis" has one of the largest genomes of the genus"Penstemon". Like other "Penstemon" species, it is used in roadside planting because it is easily grown and showy. It is recommended for easy use in gardens from the Midwest to the Atlantic coast and Pacific Northwest by the American Penstemon Society. "Iowa's Living Roadway Profiler" from the Iowa Department of Transportation says that the plant's "decorative seed capsules add interest in the fall and winter". One of
Radioactive contamination from the Rocky Flats Plant of substantial contamination from the 1957 plutonium fire until after the highly visible 1969 fire, when civilian monitoring teams confronted government officials with measurements made outside the plant of radioactive contamination suspected to be from the 1969 fire, which consumed hundreds of pounds of plutonium (850 kg). The 1969 fire raised public awareness of potential hazards posed by the plant and led to years of increasing citizen protests and demands for plant closure. Releases from previous years had not been reported publicly prior to the fire; airborne-become-groundborne radioactive contamination extending well beyond the Rocky Flats plant was not publicly reported