Gaura questions

Hello Everyone!

I've got a Gaura that I thought I had lost until today. It was buried under the daffodil foliage that hasn't died back yet and I saw a flower from it sticking out. I cut the daffodil foliage back, but the Gaura is a little flattened out. I had read somewhere that if you want a bushier plant you can cut it back when it gets to a certain height. It's already flowering, so is it still safe to cut it back some? Will it still flower if I do that now? It's one of my favorites, and I prefer to let it do it's thing and look like a big fountain, but I'm not sure this one is going to be upright again on it's own.

Also, I've got one that came up from seed, right next to the sidewalk. I wasn't sure what it was so I let it grow until I could figure it out. It needs to be much further back in the garden, and I've heard that they don't transplant well because of a tap root. I really love it because the foliage is dark red, and the flowers are solid dark pink, and my other four don't look like it at all, so I'd like to save it if possible. Any suggestions on moving it? I could swear that it was only about a foot tall yesterday, but I just measured it and it's 2 feet tall! This is a photo of the foliage. I'll post a photo of the flower next.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Natalie

Here is the flower from the Gaura, above.

Natalie

Sorry, can't answer your questions, hope someone else can help you. But just had to say that's one pretty Gaura. I know you can slip them fairly easily. Hope you can get it moved without too much trouble.

What do you mean by slip? I haven't heard that term before. Does that mean to move it? I had heard that they are hard to move because of a tap root, so if it's easy, that would be great! I'd really like to do whatever is needed to make sure it has the best chance of survival, because it's so pretty!

Natalie

Must have been channeling my Grandma, I should have said cutting. Sorry.
When I need to move a plant that I really don't want to lose entirely, I usually try to get a couple of cuttings going first, just in case the move doesn't go well. Sometimes ignorance is bliss, though. Gaura isn't reliably hardy here so I've dug mine and brought it in the house over winter for several years now. Just popped it out and pluncked it in a big pot. Now that I know it's tap root can be a problem I'll probably have more trouble.
huntley's is so pretty, I've not seem it available here.

Any mature plant like Gaura or Lupine, which do have deep tap roots, are better removed young. I have moved Lupine when it's really past the time to do so with luck.

I'd drench the soil several times over a few hours and then use a deep shovel, like a poaching shovel if you have one, and remove the baby, point the shovel straight down, not at an angle. Chances are the root is very narrow but you don't want to break it. You may remove a lot of soil with it but can replace the soil when you retrieve the plant.

At least now you have the timing and know you should look for developing babies in May and June so you can get them when it's easiest.

Good luck and let us know how it worked for you. Yours is beautiful.

Just a few of the 159 lupine babies I transplanted this spring.

ghopper, I thought I was the only one who channeled their Grandma! It's good to know that I'm not alone! Thanks for the compliment on the plant, but this was the work of Mother Nature! It looks nothing like the others that I have so it must be a hybrid. Gaura is one of my very favorite plants, and this one is really special!

Hi pirl! Thanks for the suggestions, which I'll use. It's supposed to be really hot here today, but it's overcast, so I may give it a try. I really don't want to lose it! I'm so jealous about your Lupine! I haven't been able to get them to grow for me, but I think I'll put in a new bed and give it a try again. They are so beautiful!

I'll let you know how it goes! The plant is young, but I may have let it get a little bigger than I should have. I really didn't know what it was for sure, so I was afraid to do anything with it until I knew it wasn't a weed!

Natalie

Sometimes that happens to many of us, Natalie. I dug up the lupines I had time for but there are still so many blocking a path that have to be dug or get trampled so I'll be soaking and then digging - maybe with a knife to dig out foot deep circles including the root and then replanting. It's not a job for a hot day but great for 6 AM.

It may go limp after moving it so just cover it with a few sheets of newspaper (on top of stakes) for a few days to shield it from the sun while the roots adjust. You can use some stakes and form a circle with a large nursery pot to shield it if you find that to be easier.

I'm very happy to report that it's been raining most of the day, so it was a perfect time to move it! It was 102 degrees here yesterday, and only in the upper 70s today. I sure got lucky! I'm expecting cloudy skies the next few days, but will use your suggestion for covering it if it looks like it's wilting. Thanks for that suggestion, because I wouldn't have thought to use newspaper! I love that idea! I was lucky and got all of the root when I dug it up, so I think it will be okay.

Would you cut it back some? Maybe by half? It's got a lot of flowers getting ready to open, and I'm thinking by cutting it back, it won't be using as much energy for the flowers. Maybe it makes no difference? I have no idea! I've never had to move one of these before, and I've never moved a plant so late in the year.

Thanks for the help!

Natalie

Hurray for rain - that's ideal for moving anything.

Yes, I would cut it back by half and let it recover. So glad you got the entire root.

My Gaura always make me shake my head. I had a rock garden with very nice organic soil that I'd only get them to grow 1-2 years in so I started treating them as biennials...I thought it might be because the soil was too "rich"....Then one year I bought a couple on quick sale as an impulse buy (I'm SURE everybody else is smarter than to do that with nowhere to plant them LOL) I couldn't even find a spot in the rock garden so I shoved them in an a berm of pure compost. I was sure it would be too rich....and what happened they've come back for maybe 4 years now...

Just when I think I have it all figured out, I'm humbled again...LOL

Guara is one of my favorite plants also.

Natalie - how did your gaura do? Has it survived the move?

addicted - "...nowhere to plant them". It's a way of life here - buy first, find a spot later. I've tossed plants I thought were gone and they came up better than ever in our compost bins!

Very pretty, catz!

Hi Pirl!

It was doing great until my fake grandson decided to help "weed" the flower bed! He yanked it out when I wasn't looking! I replanted it, but it bit the dust. It's probably for the best since I planted it in a spot that I shouldn't have to begin with. Oh well, we all learned a lesson from it! Mine was to never turn my back when the kids are here, and he learned that he can only pull weeds that I tell him are weeds!

Natalie

What is a fake grandson? I'm itching to know.

I was wondering that too... what is a fake grandson? Perhaps a little neighbor boy?

I love guara - I have tried a couple of times to grow it, but it never makes it through the winter for me. I have bought mine from Lowes and I know they are famous for stating 'perennial' on a plant, but it might only be perennial to zone 8.

Guara doesn't work for me, either.

How you been, Natalie?

I have a white as well as the lovely pink, but they tend to flop all over the place. I hate the way they look - so tired and untidy. Don't get me wrong, I love plants that do their own thing, but as far as gaura goes, they always look better in someone else's garden...

Maybe I must try pruning them back by half in late Spring.

I thought it would be great with the foliage intermingled with other plants. The wiry stems make it perfect for this.

Guara doesn't work for me, either.

The tags on the ones I have seen here usually say zone 6, but it seems that they need perfect drainage. Very few of them survive here in zone 5a, even in a micro-climate "6 ish" area.

I have seem a clump of them growing in an area here, at the front of a house, that gets full sun, right off of a road, the bed is mulched with gravel. Every year the clump gets larger. Looks like the bed does not get much "care", but the plants love
where they are growing.

Judy

Gaura is one of those plants that thrives on neglect. Don't water it much and don't fuss over it and It'll do well. I don't know about the zone problems though. I have mine in full all day Texas sweltering sun and it blooms constantly. I love the waterfall effect of the blooms, so graceful. I have the white and I have two kinds of pink, cherry brandy and forget the other one. White does the best for me. Cherry brandy a close second. The other pink one doesn't seem to thrive like the other two, not sure why. I have them planted in my 'Hell Strip' (space between the sidewalk and the street) that receives no extra care. Here is the white one. It looked like this all summer this year even with our hellatious drought.

I find my Gaura 'Ballerina Rose' to be a ho hum plant. Not much visual impact from a distance or for the camera. I think it needs something with large interesting folliage next to it to make it pop. I planted calla lilies adjacent. Might add some cannas, orange flowering, too. Other ideas? With the question being: how can you bring out the best visually in a Gaura with a good pairing?

It is very pretty but, like a lot of other plants, it needs a good partner. While I thought it would go best with a large clump of daylilies when I put together this collage of your gaura and two daylilies, it ended up matching the lavender/purple combination best. The gaura could act as a lovely background plant to accent a daylily.

Great idea, pirl! Thank you for the collage. I think I will move my gaura further up my slope as a background. Day lilies in front would be beautiful, and I do not have any day lilies in that area. My Gaura is a late July-Aug-Sept bloomer.

Aren't your daylilies gone by late August? Mine are, for the most part. I'll try to think of another good plant partner.

I honestly can remember on the daylilies. I think mainly July blooming around here, too. But our summer nights are so cold I seem to remember them going well into august. Cannas definitely bloom late for us.

How about some of the shorter echinaceas? Echies would also cover the blooming period of your guara. I have pastel knautia with mine and am quite happy with the combination.....

How about dahlias? I bet the gaura would behave almost like baby's breath weaving in and out of dahlias. Just select dahlias that aren't too tall.

Good ideas. I'm absolutely in love with Echinacea 'Pow Wow Wild Berry' (What an intense shade of pink!) That one you can start from seed, which is even better. A pom pom dahlia would look cute with the gaura.

Sweet bouquet!

Hi, hope you don't mind I just popped in. I got some new guara last fall, (variegated), so I saw the question and found some goodies to suggest. I have suggestion for around the feet to tall, you get to look them up tho. Most are pink and some white, and a few purples. For the ground area: Geranium "Cheryl's Shadow", chocolate foliage, light pink flowers, 6-10", m-aug.; Osteospermum, (P) white and purple backside, or light lavender, (A) there are all sorts of colors lt orange to Dazzling white, pink purples and yellows, Both of these bloom all season; Penstemon "Red Rocks", 15", pink, all season bloom; Platycodons, w, b or pink, 12 or 30"; Hemerocalis Stella Purple; Hedysarum, pink,fragrant; Gypsophila repens, (P), baby's breath, 6" pink, mine bloom heavy in the sp and e. sum., and lightly the rest of the summer: Veronica s., many var. 6-18", w, b, or pink: Salvia n., w, b, or pink; Echinacea, Magnus or dbl. top; Geraniums there are many that bloom all season (P); Campnulas from Glomeratas, Lactifloras, Latifolias and Persicifolia from w to lt lav. or dk. purples, from 6"-40"; Verbascum phoenicium, spr. and lt. sum., w, lt and dk pink or purple (I have seeds or plants I could share for postage); Scabiosa, w, lt. lav. or pink; Yarrow m.; Coreopsis rosea "Heaven's Gate", cherry pink, 16X18", Jn-Sept.;

And now some taller: Lavatera "Barnsley"; Rodgersia; Cimicifuga racemosa, 50"X15", Jn-Sept., Veronicastrum sibericum, 48-72"X36" w, b or pink; Aster latheriflorus "Lady in Black", 36"X36", (pretty); Aruncus dioicus; Phlox p.: Sidalcea; Eupatorium white or pink; Monarda fistulosa, lav/pink; Hibiscus mochatus, w, r or pink; Aconitum h. "Spark's Variety", Jly-Sept., 30-50"X12"; Boltonia asteroides, w or pink, 36"-60"X36"-60"; Eupatorium rugosum "Chocolate", purple-red leaves, wht flwrs, 36"ish; Aruncus dioicus Child of two Worlds; Astilbe; Filipendula Venusta, sum-fall; Limonium latifolium, 36", purple haze, good filler in bouquets; Chrysanthemum Herbsterne, white, A-Oct., 48"X48".

Just a few ideas, hope you might find a few goodies. Kathy

Pix is Campanula persicifolia. Enjoy.

I've had Gaura come back in my z5 garden at 3500ft (the white var.), it got flooded in the spring and was sited next to joe pye and boltonia, did wonderful. Here at 6800-6900ft, hasn't faired to good. Last fall a plant expert I trust said the variety he sold me was hardier and will overwinter for me (still z5, just higher). It is a varigated foliaged one. Love Gaura, so I hope it makes it for me!!!!

pix is Achillea (yarrow)milllefolium

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This message was edited Jan 24, 2012 4:30 PM