It is also more compact and shorter than the species, reaching only 30 inches high. With all its other fine qualities, improved color was all gaura needed to make it one of the best perennials available. It is native to Texas, Louisiana and Mexico, yet is still hardy to USDA Hardiness Zone 5. Suitable for perennial borders and naturalized areas. Perfect for commercial sites that receive little or no care.
Improved cultivars are excellent accent plants.
It is adaptable to almost any soil and is tolerant of high humidity. It generates a taproot and is resistant to drought, but like most xeriscape perennials, it looks best when given regular irrigation. It blooms from early spring to frost, but flowers are most abundant in late spring. This year I put a species gaura through a heat test, planting a division in a container and placing it on my concrete driveway in Keller, Texas. Gaura is easily propagated.