Blanket Flower
Gaillardia pulchella. ASTERACEAE (COMPOSITAE).
Planting and Growing Blanket Flower
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow blanket flower in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of blanket flower
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for blanket flower
- Season of bloom and planting time for blanket flower
- When, how deep, and where to plant blanket flower
- How to plant blanket flower
- Watering, fertilizing, care, and pests or diseases of blanket flower
- Landscape and container uses of blanket flower
- Comments about blanket flower and its features
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Growing Blanket Flower
Many cultivars of erect, bushy annual herbs, to 3 ft. (90 cm) tall. Alternate, hairy, textured, deep gray green, lance-shaped leaves, 3–6 in. (75–150 mm) long.
Common cultivars include Gaillardia pulchella ‘Gaiety Mixed Colors’, ‘Indian Blanket’, ‘Indian Chief’, ‘Lorenziana’, ‘Red Giant’, ‘Red Plume’, and ‘Yellow Sun’.
Planting and Care Guide
Blooms
Showy, gold, deep red, yellow flowers, 3–4 in. (75–100 mm) wide, tipped in yellow, and with brown, deep purple, or yellow centers, in early summer–autumn.
Best Climates
Plant as tender annual, zones 3–4; self-seeding, zones 5–9.
Soil Type and Fertility
Damp to dry, well-drained, sandy humus. Fertility: Average–low. 6.0–7.5 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Spring in full sun, 10–15 in. (25–38 cm) apart, when soil is workable.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep damp; allow soil surface to dry between waterings. Avoid fertilizing. Deadhead spent flowers to promote bloom. Stake taller cultivars. Propagate by seed.
About This Plant
Good choice for beds, borders in cottage, meadow, wildlife gardens. Good for cutting. Attracts birds, butterflies. Aphid and leaf spot, powdery mildew susceptible.