And that makes me happy.
Gaura lindheimeri/Oenothera lindheimeri is a fantastic plant for my pollinator friendly garden. This Texas and Louisiana native is a beauty with lovely cultivars like 'Whirling Butterfly' and 'Siskiyou Pink'. I chose a pink variety for Clay and Limestone.
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| Bees of all sizes love Gaura |
The secret to success is: full sun, great drainage and a few neighbors to lean upon! That spot is at the bottom of the sloping Susans border, where it makes a big, colorful flowery presence.
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| Prior to trying out the slope, Gaura happily bloomed in a large container planting |
Its supporting neighbors are also beauties.
Amsonia hubrichtii is sited just above it on the slope. It flowers lightly for me, but the fall foliage is a delightful golden color and as it ages/dries the leaves curl. (
Post: Amsonia after the fall)
Agastache 'Blue Fortune' is next to the Bluestar. I love
Agastache, but, it's not a perennial in my garden. Every spring I trek all over the city/county to find
Agastache plants! Trust me they're so worth it and the blue flowers are lovely, just ask the bees.
A true annual in my garden,
Cleome 'Senorita Rosalita' is planted in a container between the two
Gauras. She's never happy in the ground here, but, thrives in containers.
Btw, when you see containers in my garden beds, they're probably sited above a hunk of limestone bedrock that this gardener cannot dig up!
Allium tuberosum is the third beauty in this planting. It has seeded itself on the bottom of the slope and no amount of editing has been able to rid the garden of all of it, so I decided to go with it. The white flowers echo the white on
Gaura and the hint of white on the
Cleome.
Yes, the Garlic Chives are thuggish, but, it really does look great and the pollinators love it. Just remember to cut the seed heads off when the flower dries up or they will spread every where. I do mean every where!
I am really happy with the trio.
Fingers crossed that there's enough drainage to keep the Gauras alive this winter.
xoxogail
Please note that Gaura has a new Genus name~Oenothera! Now they shall be known as the ex-Gauras!
Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at
Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.
