Penstemon clevelandii is herbaceous plant with stems that either grow straight upwards from its base or outwards a short distance before curving to grow upwards reaching 30 to 70 centimeters when mature.

[3] The leaves are dark green to glaucescent, somewhat coated in wax giving a blue-green color.

The basal leaves and the lowest of the cauline are ovate, egg shaped, with smooth to coarsely toothed edges and a length from 15 to 90 millimeters with a width of 8 to 35 mm.

[4] The inflorescence the upper portion of a stem, 10 to 65 centimeters long, and may be hairless or covered in glandular hairs.

They may be pink, magenta, or red-purple and do not have nectar guides, but are covered in glandular hairs externally.

[2] Its specific epithet, clevelandii, honors the 19th-century San Diego plant collector and lawyer Daniel Cleveland.