Gaura flowers are 4-merous, that is, the floral parts consist of multiples of four—four sepals, four petals, eight stamens and a stigma with four lobes. The petals are usually arranged with two to each side resembling the wings of a butterfly.

Whirling butterflies open white in the morning and age to a rose pink before dropping. Several color mutations have arisen in cultivation—‘Siskiyou Pink’ (the photographed specimen), ‘Corrie’s Gold’ with yellow variegated leaves, the dwarf ‘Swirling Butterflies’, and a red developed in Australia, ‘Crimson Butterflies’.

The flowers are generally bee pollinated. One to four seeds develop in a four-angled woody capsule. The seeds are easy to start and whirling butterflies look best in mass plantings. But there is a caveat: the plant puts down a deep taproot and will not survive digging and moving.

Gaura are members of the Onagraceae, the evening primrose family. There are 20 species of Gaura, all are native to the U.S., but many have ranges that extend from Canada to Central and South America. Most Gaura, though, are not very attractive, some are even considered weeds.

 

(Compiled from: “Gaura”, Hortus Third, Staff L.H. Bailey Hortorium, NY State College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Macmillan, NY 1976; “Gaura”, A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, C. Brickell and J.D. Zuk, eds, American Horticultural Society, DK Publishing, NY, 1997)