Blanket flowers - Gaillardia x grandiflora - are hardy perennials that add vibrant, long-lasting color to any garden. Suitable for both beginners and experienced gardeners, they require little maintenance and provide cheerful blooms throughout the season.
What truly sets blanket flowers apart from other perennials is their remarkable resilience and enduring display. Unlike many garden favorites that can fade after a brief burst of color, blanket flowers offer bold accents well into autumn.
Their blossoms feature layered petals with a slightly ruffled edge, often marked by vivid bands of scarlet, orange, and yellow that shift in intensity as the season progresses. To prolong this dazzling show, regularly removing faded blooms encourages new buds—ensuring your garden remains lively and radiant for months on end.
They do best in full sun, where they will bloom freely and produce their most vibrant flowers. Insufficient sunlight may result in fewer blooms and spindly growth, so it’s essential to select a sunny spot for optimal results. Although blanket flowers are tolerant of many soil types, they prefer well-drained soils. By providing the right sunlight and soil conditions, you’ll encourage sturdy plants and a profusion of cheerful blooms all season long.
Blanket flowers are celebrated for their ability to attract a diverse range of beneficial pollinators, including native bees such as bumblebees and solitary bees, as well as popular butterfly species like monarchs and painted ladies.
The nectar-rich blooms provide these insects with an important food source throughout the season. To maximize the benefits for pollinators, consider planting blanket flowers in clusters.
Blanket flowers seamlessly complement a variety of garden styles, from structured elegance to informal charm. In a formal garden, their vibrant blooms can be used as edging along pathways or borders, creating crisp lines of color that highlight walkways and geometric planting beds. For cottage-style gardens, blanket flowers are perfect for mixing with other wildflowers, spilling casually among tall grasses and perennial companions to evoke a relaxed, natural aesthetic.
Their compact size is especially beneficial for gardeners working with limited space, such as small yards, containers, or front-of-border plantings. This trait allows blanket flowers to add bold color without overwhelming the space or crowding neighboring plants. Meanwhile, their remarkable adaptability means they flourish in a range of conditions—thriving equally well in sandy soils, rocky outcrops, or traditional garden beds. These qualities ensure that blanket flowers provide reliable beauty and performance, no matter where you choose to plant them.
Blanket flowers—specifically Gaillardia aristata—are native to Colorado and much of the western United States. They naturally occur in grasslands, dry meadows, and open montane habitats, thriving in the lean, well-drained soils and sunny conditions typical of the region.
Native Blanket flowers can be grown from seed, planted in the spring, after last frost.
Mesa™ Peach Gaillardia grandiflora
From native prairie drifts to curated beds and containers, Gaillardia’s evolution showcases the power of hybridization to marry hardiness with beauty. Next time you deadhead a blanket flower, remember you’re tending the legacy of explorers, botanists, and breeders who turned a wildflower into a garden icon.
Mesa™ Arizona Sun Gaillardia x grandiflora
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