Safe to Plant

Gaura · Osorno, Los Lagos Region, Chile

When to sow gauras in Osorno

Main outdoor window

25 Sep - 23 Oct

The window this page is built around.

Timed from last spring frost

11 September

In Osorno, on your chosen risk.

Ready to pick

29 Nov - 30 Apr

If you plant at the start of the window.

The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.

Step by step in Osorno

Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.

Plant out

25 Sep - 23 Oct

Two weeks after your last frost.

In flower

29 Nov - 30 Apr

Frost tolerance
Half-hardy
Damaged below
-12°C (10.4°F)
First crop
Year 1
Hardy to
Zone 6a–9a
Min soil temp
13°C (55.4°F)
Spacing
45 cm
Sowing depth
5 mm (0.2 in)
Sun
Full

Gauras through the year

Against the frost risk in Osorno

Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Frost risk Plant Harvest Today

Why these dates

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.

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.

Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Gauras are timed with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Osorno.

Osorno sits in zone 9b, which is milder than this crop wants, and a winter that never really arrives is its own problem. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.

Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 1, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.

See every crop timed for Osorno →

Growing gauras in Osorno

When should I plant gauras in Osorno?

Aim for 25 Sep - 23 Oct in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 21 Oct - 18 Nov - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.

When will gauras be ready to harvest in Osorno?

Expect to start picking around 29 Nov - 30 Apr, based on 100 to 130 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.

How much frost will gauras tolerate?

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.