PlantSowGrow
How to plant and care for Gaura (Whirling Butterflies)
Oenothera lindheimeri
🌸 Flower
🔁 Perennial
Hundreds of white, butterfly-like flowers flutter on wiry stems from June to the frosts. Drought-tolerant and great in gravel and pots.
When to plant and care for it
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Flowers
Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.
Growing Gaura (Whirling Butterflies): what it needs
- Light
- Full sun · 6+ hours a day
- Watering
- Water well until established, then in dry spells
- Soil
- Well-drained soil
- Spacing
- 60 cm
- Height
- 90 cm
- In pots
- Grows well in containers
- Feeding
- A little general feed in spring
- Hardiness
- USDA zones 6–9
Step by step
- On planting day
Plant
Plant at the same depth as it was in its pot, 60 cm apart, and firm in.
- 0–1 days after “Plant”
Water In Well
Give a full can of water, then keep moist for the first few weeks while roots establish.
- 7–14 days after “Water In Well”
Mulch Around the Base
Spread 5 cm of compost or bark around the plant, keeping it off the stems.
Every year
- AprilCut Back Old Growth
Cut old stems back to the fresh base growth in spring (not autumn — it helps it survive winter).
- JulyIn Flower
White "butterflies" dancing in the breeze.
