Flower · Onagraceae
When to sow gauras
Small white or pink flowers on wiry wands that move constantly in any breeze, flowering from early summer until frost. Deep-rooted and genuinely drought-proof once settled.
Plant out
2 weeks after
Counted from your last spring frost.
First worthwhile crop
Year 1
After planting, not after sowing.
Hardy in USDA zones
6a to 9a
Winter cold sets the limit here, not the calendar.
Those weeks become real dates once you name a place.
Timing, in frost-relative terms
Seed packets rarely give calendar dates, because a date that suits one latitude is wrong at another. They give offsets from the last spring frost instead, and those offsets are what make gauras plantable anywhere.
- Plant out 2 weeks after the last frost.
- Expect a first worthwhile crop in year 1 after planting.
- Hardy in USDA zones 6a–9a.
Getting the timing right
Plant out after the last frost in the sunniest, best-drained position available. Cut back to 20cm in spring rather than autumn. In cold gardens treat it as a short-lived plant and expect to replace it every three or four years.
Frost tolerance
Hardy to about -12C in dry soil and much less where winters are wet, which is what limits it far more than absolute cold. Flowers through light autumn frosts.
Classified as half-hardy, with damage expected below -12°C (10.4°F)10.4°F (-12°C).