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Gaura: A natural beauty

Get to know this new award-winning annual flower. It is perfect for low-maintenance gardens.

'Sparkle White' gaura close-upNorth Dakota State University evaluates over 100 varieties of annual flowers every year. While waiting to take a tour of the annual flowers last week, I asked flower specialist Barb Laschkewitsch if there was anything special in the trials this year. Barb responded, “What do you think of gaura?”

I had never heard of it. Have you? If not, allow me to introduce you to ‘Sparkle White’ gaura. It’s elegant. It’s eye-catching. It’s a natural beauty.

Gaura is a bushy plant with stems filled with airy blossoms. A closer look at the blossoms reveals their delicate white petals with a pink blush (top photo). 

The breezes blowing in the garden that morning created waves of sparkling white color. One can imagine this gaura will look amazing as a mass planting.

‘Sparkle White’ gaura will bloom all summer until frost. It has excellent tolerance to heat, wind, and dry soil—perfect for a low maintenance garden in North Dakota.

This versatile variety can be grown in sunny beds or in containers. Its long-lasting beauty through the summer will make it an attractive foil against the ever-changing colors in perennial flower beds.'Sparkle White' gaura

‘Sparkle White’ gaura won the prestigious All-America Selections National Award in the USA and the Fleuroselect Gold Medal Award in Europe for superior performance. It seems everyone is impressed with this new flower variety and maybe you will be, too.

If you are ever in Fargo, visit the NDSU gardens at the corner of 12th Avenue North and 18th Street North.  The gardens are free and open to the public. The largest collection of daylilies in the USA is adjacent to the annuals.

 

Written by Tom Kalb, Extension Horticulturist, North Dakota State University. Published in the NDSU Yard & Garden Report, July 28, 2014. Photos courtesy of All-America Selections.

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