Blanket flower is native to North America. It is also called Gaillardia.

 

Most Blanket flower grows two feet tall with daisies about three inches wide, but others can be one to three feet tall.

 

These perennials are very tough and cheerful. The plant may have single or double flowers, depending on the variety. They are hardy, drought tolerant perennial come in warm colors of red, orange, and gold and have a daisylike look. It frequently forms dense colonies of brilliant red flowers with yellow rims and serrated tips on the ray petals. Downy green leaves grow in low rosettes and have a hairy texture.

 

Blanket flowers bloom in summer. It thrives in full sun in well-drained areas. Occasional watering will extend the blooming period. Allow seed heads to completely dry prior to trimming. This will aid in reseeding for the following year. Gaillardias tolerate drought and grow well without any fuss at all in full sun, in any garden soil that has good drainage. Deadhead plants for renewed bloom and tidy beds. They are attractive to bees and butterflies. It is easily established from seed. It can self-seed, but not always true to seed. The best thing is that the plant even bloom in sand along a seashore.

 

Blanket flower is one of the most adaptable perennial composites. Thus it makes an excellent cut flower with a vase life of 6 to 10 days. It is used in Roadsides, drainage ditch slopes, open fields, mixes. Gaillardias are an excellent choice for your butterfly garden, or for cutting. If you keep the flower stalks cut off as they fade, you will enjoy these flowers from mid June, until the first frost.

 

Did you know?

·        The name Blanket refers to the inflorescence's resemblance to brightly patterned blankets made by Native Americans.

·        It was named Gaillardia after M. Gaillard de Charentonneau, an 18th-century French magistrate who was a patron of botany.

·        Average seeds per pound: 132,000.

·        It is the state flower of South Central Oklahoma.

·        There are more than two dozen known species of Gaillardia.