Gaura · Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China
When to sow gauras in Zhenjiang
Main outdoor window
2-30 Apr
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
19 March
In Zhenjiang, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
1 Jun - 31 Oct
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Zhenjiang
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Plant out
2-30 Apr
Two weeks after your last frost.
In flower
1 Jun - 31 Oct
Gauras through the year
Against the frost risk in Zhenjiang
Why these dates
Plant out after the last frost in the sunniest, best-drained position available. Cut back to 20cm in spring rather than autumn. In cold gardens treat it as a short-lived plant and expect to replace it every three or four years.
Hardy to about -12C in dry soil and much less where winters are wet, which is what limits it far more than absolute cold. Flowers through light autumn frosts.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Gauras are timed with planting out 2 weeks after it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Zhenjiang.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Zhenjiang is zone 8b, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
Do not expect a crop in the first year. A plant set out now should give its first worthwhile pick around year 1, and will then produce every year after that, which is what makes the planting decision worth getting right the first time.
Also in Zhenjiang
Other flowers to time
Growing gauras in Zhenjiang
When should I plant gauras in Zhenjiang?
Aim for 2-30 Apr in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 13 Apr - 11 May - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will gauras be ready to harvest in Zhenjiang?
Expect to start picking around 1 Jun - 31 Oct, based on 100 to 130 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will gauras tolerate?
Hardy to about -12C in dry soil and much less where winters are wet, which is what limits it far more than absolute cold. Flowers through light autumn frosts.