Gaillardia, also known as blanket flower, is an easy to grow, short-lived perennial with richly colored, daisy-like flowers. These plants have a long blooming season, from summer until fall.

Blanket flowers are an interesting and colorful addition to the flower bed or garden, offering long lasting blooms if deadheaded, a necessary part of the care of blanket flowers. A member of the Daisy family, blanket flowers are similar to those of the familiar wildflower.

They attract pollinators such as butterflies and come in a range of colors including reds and oranges. The flowers may be solid colored or a combination of colors such as red and yellow.

These are annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs, sometimes with rhizomes. The stem is usually branching and erect to a maximum height around 80 centimeters (31.5 inches).

The leaves are alternately arranged. Some taxa have only basal leaves. They vary in shape. They are glandular in most species.

The inflorescence is a solitary flower head. The head can have 15 or more ray florets, while some taxa lack any ray florets. They can be almost any shade of yellow, orange, red, purplish, brown, white, or bicolored. They are sometimes rolled into a funnel shape.

There are many tubular disc florets at the center of the head in a similar range of colors, and usually tipped with hairs. The fruit usually has a pappus of scales.

We’ll be sharing more about this flower in future.