Blanket flower is a perennial
long season of bloom, produced from early summer to early fall in different
shades. Blanket Flower is also known as Gaillardia is a genus of flowering plants
in the sunflower family. Gaillardias look like large daisies, with bold, bright
markings like those of an American Indian blanket, in patterns of red, yellows
and golds. The blanket flowers are glandular in most species; however the
inflorescence is a solitary flower head. Blanket flowers are annual or
perennial herbs or subshrubs, sometimes with rhizomes.
Usually, it grow about 2 ½ feet
tall, but there are also dwarf varieties. They bloom in summer over a long
period and are a good choice if your climate is hot and dry. Therefore, varieties
include the mixed colored “Monarch Strain” and solids such as dark red “Burgundy”
and “Yellow Queen”. Multicolored “Goblin” grows a foot tall. Blanket Flower is
sometimes rolled into a funnel shape are many tubular disc florets at the
center of the head in a similar range of colors, and usually tipped with hairs.
Blanket flowers enticing butterflies can be grown in containers and the taller
cultivars make nice cut flowers. Blanket
flowers are usually short-lived; cutting back clumps to 6 inches in late summer
often increases their chances of winter survival.
Blanket flower normally grows in
moist, humid areas and plants may develop fungus diseases in summer or succumb
to rot from winter moisture. Avoid mulching them, and give them light, well-drained
soil, preferably on the sandy side. Gaillardias can be grown fairly quickly
from seed, and will flower the first year. Moreover in spring season, watch for
new shoots that may appear quite a distance from the original clump. If the
center of the clump dies, discard it and replant the side shoots. Blanket
flowers have insect or disease problems and look out for aphids and leafhoppers
that can banquet a virus-like disease called aster yellows.
