gaura can be tempermental in our climate it is prone to heaving and long soppy springs are a death sentence to this dry heat loving plant.The usual annuals such as snapdragons,inpatiens, ageratum,flowering kale/cabbage,alyssum as well as violas and pansys have been known to reseed and return especially if the same annual border has been planted for many years there have been times when a new planting was not necessary but still not dependable enough to call these lovely summer annuals to zones 7and beow perennial.