Garden

For the One Who Wanted Gaura

Sunil43.1K views

Most of the seeds I sowed during mid-summer are coming along nicely; one of seed packs was Gaura Lindheimeri. Someone commented that they wanted to see the Gaura growing and for me to comment on how they were to start from seed. Well, fast forward to now and here are the results:

Well, half the results. There’s a second tray like this one with yet more young Gaura plants. They were very easy to germinate, came up readily and just grew away. One of them winding off to the right even looks to be trying to form a flower head already. There’s just two things:

  1. I’m supposed to nip the tops to make them bush out
  2. The brown spots of some of the leaves – which I thought at first was some sort of fungal or rust disease – is perfectly normal

They will stay in the greenhouse over winter, I’m not sure if they will die back completely or not. Next spring, I’ll plant them out in small groups, dotted about in the sunnier parts of the garden. They should make a nice addition to other “airy” plants such as the Verbena Bonariensis and Evening Primrose.

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4 comments

gardeninacity 21/10/2012 - 9:08 pm
Congratulations! They should be gorgeous in your garden next year.
Sunil 23/10/2012 - 6:53 pm
Hi Jason, thanks, I hope they do well. I'll have to cram them in somewhat as I don't have many sunny places left to plant.
Stacy 26/10/2012 - 6:30 pm
I think I was probably the one who asked about the Gaura, Sunil. Wow, those look good. Healthy and lush! Judging from the size, I'm wondering whether the nursery plants I usually see are maybe even third-year plants. It's nice to know they're such willing growers, as they don't have much longevity, and they're favorites of mine for that airy look, too. I'm glad to know the leaf spots are just par for the course. I count eight in that tray, and you have that many more??? Once they're planted you'll have to let your partner know when you go out in the garden, so that if you don't re-appear within a given time he can come looking for you with a machete... Thanks for the update!
Sunil 28/10/2012 - 5:26 pm
Hi Stacy, they are looking good, thanks and I do have a second tray of them (somewhere?). I didn't know they were short-lived - that's good to know as I'll have to start thinking about sowing seeds for replacements and insurance at some point. Given where you live I'm not surprised they take off an seemingly take over, I think with the much cooler conditions here, they will hopefully leave room for other plants. Otherwise I'll just have to plant something else that's even more vigorous!?
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