Do You Have One Too?

A showstopper in your garden? I do, and it's a real winner in my eyes. It even flowers in August, the month when most gardeners complain that not a lot is going on, flower wise. Well this little gem does and how, so yours truly hasn't been complaining about August being dull and bloom less, not a bit of it.
This wonderful plant started flowering in June, it's still going strong in September and it will be flowering till the first frosts. This little gem flowers not only over a long period but with gay abandon too. It's delicate flowers are set on green magic wands and look like little white butterflies fluttering in the breeze. Here my charming assistant Dolly Daisy is showing just how big this plant actually is.
And it's just one single plant and, although I hate to brag (who am I kidding, I love to brag about all things horticultural), I've sown it myself earlier last year and it was easy, very easy indeed.
It's said not to be quite hardy but as it has survived last Winter's frost of minus 15 C it looks like it's tough as the proverbial pair of old boots IMO.

Although its flowers are white, there is a bit of pink at the back of the flower and its buds are pink too. The name of this super star? Well, Gaura lindheimeri of course.
There are pink versions of it as well, above Gaura lindheimeri Siskiyou Pink is shown but there's also Pretty in Pink. Don't expect your Gaura to become quite as big as mine, as mine is grown in heavy clay. The advice is to bung in 5 to 7 plants per square meter, that mine is on its own filling up almost 2 square meters, is the exception rather than the rule. But what else could you expect from a garden called Bliss? ;-)
Gaura lindheimeri Cherry Brandy

But for all of you poor souls who don't garden at Bliss; Gaura's are quite drought and heat tolerant and do well in sunny spots and in partial shade too. (For my American garden friends, this plant does well in USDA zones 5 to 10.)

So if you haven't already got one or two of these wonderful plants growing away like there is no tomorrow in your garden, I expect your face does look quite red now. ;-) Never mind, go buy a few, or buy a packet of seeds or get a few cuttings/seedlings from your far more knowledgeable garden buddies.

But before I sign off, tell me, do you have a September showstopper in your garden too?

copyright 2009 Y.E.W. Heuzen