As far as I can tell, gaura only has one essential requirement for healthy growth: admiration from the gardener!! I've only grown the white and I grew it from seed via winter sowing which might have given it a leg up in terms of performance but it's a blooming machine from the get go and blooms non-stop until late fall. I did stake mine in one bed but more to keep it from blocking the walkway than anything else. The others just bloomed and bloomed, totally unaffected by last year's drought.

The plants go dormant with very little in the way of dead stems to clear away. There's new growth on all of mine this year so they're hardy at least to Z5. The only wildlife that appeared interested in them was bees and butterflies--apparently the japanese beetles and other pests don't bother with them.

I can't vouch for the pink varieties but do plan to introduce more gaura types into the beds in years to come. The white one I grew ('The Bride') made a great impact planted beside Russian sage:

{{gwi:194529}}

Oh, that is gorgeous. And I have a gap near my Russian sage!

Gaura lindheimeri is the most common species. MOBOT says Best grown in sandy, loamy, well-drained soil in full sun. Good drainage is essential. It isn't a plant for heavy soils, or places that get a lot of rain. It's also relatively short lived, but fun for a while. I had it for a couple of years on a dry hillside, but haven't replaced it.

I do wonder if the Gaura Logees is selling is more tolerant of eastern wet than the lindheimeri.

Warning! I don't think this pink gaura is hardy! See link below which states it is tender. I see pink gaura in many local nurseries and online, often indicating hardiness to zone 5 and many good nurseries present it as such. I wondered why mine never over wintered. Then someone wrote to this forum saying it wasn't. This is one more example of people in the trade not being careful what they say, similar to the promotion of raspberry colored coreopsis which isn't as hardy as yellow coreopsis.

Also Bellza is just a trade name for a lindheimeri cultivar.

I stopped buying pink gaura, but the good news is that I expect to see red-leaved pink seedlings coming up this year. If given a chance gaura will self-seed in unmulched areas of your bed (or if you used shredded leaves as a mulch.)

Here is a link that might be useful: Other link about Gaura Dark Pink

Thanks for the info. and the warning. Maybe I will stick with a white variety for now.

I've had lots of gaura of various types; the white is by far the hardiest and it does self-sow quite a bit.

Somewhere I read that it should never be cut back until growth starts in spring, so I leave the dead plants in place over the winter. This does seem to help, but so does being in the warmer part of New England, I'm sure.

Several gaura have overwintered for the past few years in our New Hampshire garden (Z5) and have also begat many seedlings. I believe they are Siskiyou pink. It may be that some varieties are not hardy in this zone, but this one has done well for us.

I think I have the pink variety of this plant as well. It has not done well here in Southeast Michigan, but I think it needs more sun. I plan to transplant it to a sunnier area in the fall.