Resembling a cloud of dancing butterflies, the blooms appear continuously from early summer through to autumn, creating a light and natural effect that softens planting schemes and adds months of interest to the garden. The nectar-rich flowers are highly attractive to bees and other pollinating insects, making it an excellent choice for wildlife-friendly borders.
Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’ is perfect for bringing movement and texture to mixed borders, prairie-style plantings and cottage garden schemes. Its open, airy habit allows it to weave effortlessly through neighbouring plants, pairing beautifully with salvias, verbenas, echinaceas and ornamental grasses. The pure white flowers help brighten planting combinations and provide a valuable contrast to stronger summer colours, creating a relaxed and naturalistic display.
Easy to grow and drought tolerant once established, Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’ thrives in full sun and well-drained soil. It performs particularly well in lighter soils and warm, sheltered positions, where it will flower freely for many months with very little maintenance. Regular deadheading can help prolong the display, although plants will often continue blooming without intervention well into autumn.
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As a rough guide when planting Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’ in borders, allow 5-7 plants per square metre for good coverage, or plant in drifts to create a soft, billowing effect throughout the garden.
How to grow Gaura ‘Whirling Butterflies’
Position: Full Sun
Foliage: Herbaceous Perennial
Soil and site: Moderately fertile, well-drained soil
Flowering time: June to October
Growth rate: Moderate
Ultimate height and spread: Height to 90cm, spread to approximately 60cm
Hardiness: Hardy in most UK gardens; benefits from well-drained soil in winter
Leave top growth in place over winter to help protect the crown, then cut back old stems in early spring as new growth emerges. Water during prolonged dry spells in the first year after planting. Avoid overly rich soils, which can encourage excessive leafy growth at the expense of flowers. Apply a light mulch in spring and divide established plants only if necessary, as Gaura Whirling Butterflies generally prefers to be left undisturbed.
Potted orders are usually despatched within 3-5 working days and delivery is 1-2 days after we despatch. Pleached tree and tall plant deliveries are booked in for delivery at the earliest possible convenient date.
Delivery is free for most orders above our free delivery thresholds, these are displayed above our prices in the product listings and summarized below. If you don’t need that many plants it’s not a problem, you can choose to pay our subsidised delivery charge and only order what you need.
Delivery is convenient – no signature is required so you don’t need to wait in, we will leave your parcel in the safe place that you nominate.
Delivery is fast – because we pick orders daily from our own growing beds your plants only travel the small hop to our packing shed before being sent to you, they are usually delivered within 5-7 working days.
Delivery is reliable – we have been selling and delivering Hedging Plants to our customers nationwide since 1992. We have a lot of experience in packing them safely and only use tried and tested delivery partners.
Smaller Plants (Parcel Delivery)
| Location | Order Value | Price |
| UK Mainland excluding Highlands | Up to £300 | £9 |
| UK Mainland excluding Highlands | Over £300 | Free |
| Scottish Highlands and Isle of Wight | All orders | £24 |
Heavy Plants (Pallet Delivery)
| Location | Order Value | Price |
| UK Mainland excluding Highlands | Up to £500 | £50 |
| UK Mainland excluding Highlands | Over £500 | Free |
| Scottish Highlands and Isle of Wight | All orders | £90 |
Tall Plants 2.5m+ (Specialist Delivery)
| Location | Order Value | Price |
| Mainland England and Wales only | Under £1800 | Please call us |
| Mainland England and Wales only | Over £1800 | Free |
| All other areas | All orders | Not available |
Exceptions to our delivery charges are Scottish Highland and Isle of Wight delivery areas where we need to charge a little extra to cover the cost of deliveries to these outlying areas. We don’t currently delivery to other offshore addresses including Northern Ireland and Southern Ireland.
Tall plants over 2.5 metres have to be delivered by our own specialised transport, our delivery area is limited to mainland England and Wales only.
For pleached tree orders we can often deliver smaller orders of £600 or more (£500 plus VAT) with a contribution towards delivery, so please do call our sales team on 01580 765 600 or take a look at our Delivery Information page.
Please note there is a minimum order value of £50 for orders containing smaller plants and £250 for orders containing heavier plants.
Complete delivery information can be viewed on our Delivery Information page.
