Gaura 'Passionate Blush'

Gaura 'Passionate Blush': Pocket-Sized Pink on Red Stems

The name is 'Passionate Blush' and, honestly, this plant can't keep a straight face. Red buds, red stems and pink flowers that look like they just got caught flirting with the bees. SOMEBODY'S CHEEKS ARE BURNING.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Gaura lindheimeri (now also classified as Oenothera lindheimeri)
• Common Name: Butterfly Flower, Wand Flower, Beeblossom
• Height: 30–45 cm (12–18 in)
• Spread: 40–50 cm (16–20 in)
• Flowers: Pink, opening from reddish buds on red stems
• Bloom Time: Early summer to early fall (June to September)
• Foliage: Narrow green leaves, with burgundy tints on new growth
• Features: Cultivar name 'Sme-2'
• Plant Patent: USPP 17,293

Where to Plant: Its small size makes it a natural for containers, window boxes and the front edge of a sunny bed, and it fills the gaps in a hot, dry gravel bed. It isn't reliably hardy here, so treat it as a long-blooming container plant or summer annual, or give it your warmest, best-drained spot.

Companion Plants: Soft pink gaura floats nicely over Nepeta Whispurr™ Blue, whose blue flowers run from June to September at 61 to 71 cm. Plant Symphyotrichum ericoides nearby for small white daisies from August to October, carrying the show past the gaura. Cerastium 'Silver Carpet' spreads along the front, with white flowers in May and June before the gaura begins. It is a light, airy planting for full sun and lean soil.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun, in light, well-drained soil. Gaura sulks in heavy clay and rots in wet winter soil. In pots, use a gritty mix and a container with drainage holes. Water regularly until it's established, then only when the soil dries out. Container plants will need water more often in hot weather. Skip the rich fertilizer, which makes the stems lanky. Cut off finished flower stems to keep new ones coming. If you're overwintering it in the ground, leave the stems standing and trim them in spring.

History: 'Passionate Blush' originated in Australia and is patented in the United States as 'Sme-2'. The wild species grows in Texas and southern Louisiana and is named for Ferdinand Lindheimer, a German-born botanist who collected plants in Texas for Harvard's Asa Gray.

Final Thoughts: Plant it where the sun is hot and the gossip is hotter. Deer won't touch it. The neighbours will absolutely talk about it. LET THEM.