The plants look like they are infected with Botrytis Leaf Mold, this fungal disease is spread by wind and water. Initially, brown spots appear on infected leaves. As the diseases progresses, flowers appear damaged and distorted. Remove all infected buds, blossoms, and leaves. Destroy badly infected plants. Severe infestations may require the application of an organic fungicide.

You can take some preventative measures to decrease Penstemon digitalis’ susceptibility to attack from leaf diseases. Purchase disease -resistant cultivars. Provide proper spacing for your plants to give them good light and air circulation. Many foliar diseases are spread by wind and rain. Use mulch to help avoid rain splashing up against the plants. Water the ground around your flowers carefully to help keep foliage dry. Do not work in the garden when plants are wet. Many fungal spores and bacterial diseases overwinter in infected leaves and plant material. Clean up garden debris in the fall. Finally, do not dispose of any infected leaves or plant material in your home compost pile or bin.

Thanks again for your question and I hope you have a great gardening season.

Straw would make a better mulch since hay can introduce a lot of unwanted plants through seeds in the hay.

Applying a fungicide should be the last resort when other solutions have not worked. The fungicide could be applied after the Penstemon digitalis has flowered to limit exposure to pollinators. The toxicity of a fungicide is lower towards bees is much lower than a pesticide would be. The following article explains some of the science behind fungicide toxicity towards bees. The article is located here: The relationship between plant disease management and pollinator conservation - Gardening in Michigan (msu.edu)

You have a bale of straw, straw has a golden color and it does not contain any leaves.  Straw is what is left after oats or wheat is harvested.  Hay is a grass and the bales usually have a greenish color.  Older hay may turn dark but still may contain weed seeds.

The straw looks like it has set a while so any pesticide has degraded to the point where I will not harm pollinators.

I hope this information helps.