Blanket flower is a festive perennial that blooms most of the year in hot, dry gardens. Here’s how to grow and care for this hybrid of two native wildflowers.
Blanket flower (Gaillardia x grandiflora) is a perennial with green-gray leaves and brilliant two-tone flowers that are as vibrant as a desert sunset. It’s a hybrid of two native wildflowers — Gaillardia aristata and Gaillardia pulchella.
This versatile plant makes a welcome addition to cottage, butterfly, and rock gardens. Since they’re only about a foot tall, they look great at the front of your garden or lining a sidewalk or patio. They can also be grown in containers.
Blanket flowers attract bees, butterflies, moths, and seed-loving birds but are resistant to rabbits and deer.
Why I Like This Plant
- Vivid two-tone flowers that bloom most of the year
- Easy to gather seeds to grow more or share
- Hardy, needs little care
- Important food source for birds and pollinators
Things to Watch Out For
Blanket flower is not toxic to people or pets, but all parts of the plant can cause contact irritation. I learned this the hard way and never handle any part of this plant without my gardening gloves.
Optimal Growing Conditions
If you’re thinking of adding blanket flowers to your garden, you need to find a suitable place that will keep your plants looking good and coming back every year.
Here are the key factors to keep in mind.
Temperature
Blanket flower can be grown in USDA Hardiness Zones 2 – 11, which covers most of the continental US. They can generally take the heat of the desert southwest, but according to Arizona State University, their upper limit is around 112℉ and so they struggle in Phoenix. They are extremely cold-hardy, surviving temperatures as low as -40℉!
Sun Exposure
Blanket flower can handle full sun except in the hottest spots in your yard. For the best chance of growing them there, plant in part shade.
Pro tip!
If blanket flowers don’t love your hot summers,
grow them as a cool season annual.
Size and Growth Rate
Blanket flower grows moderately fast. I planted some from seed in the spring and they were flowering by late summer. When fully grown, they form an attractive mound, typically reaching 1 foot tall and wide.
Soil
Blanket flower grows well in most soils, even poor rocky soil, provided it’s well-draining.
Lifespan
Blanket flower is considered a “short-lived perennial” which generally lasts 3 years or so. Since they reseed with a little help, the loss of an individual plant should not be a concern – it’s easy to grow new ones!
Blanket Flower:
The Essentials
| Common Names | Blanket flower, Indian flower |
| Scientific Name | Gaillardia x grandiflora |
| Origin | Hybrid of US natives |
| Plant Type | Short-lived perennial |
| USDA Zones | Zones 2 – 11 |
| Cold Hardiness | To -30℉ |
| Flower Color | Red and yellow |
| Flower Season | Spring, summer, fall |
| Mature Size | 1′ high x 1’ wide |
| Growth Rate | Moderate |
| Sun Tolerance | Full, part sun |
| Water Needs | Low |
| Pests & Diseases | Root rot if overwatered |
| Cautions | Contact irritation |
| Wildlife | Attracts bees, birds, butterflies Deer, rabbit resistant |
Growing Blanket Flower: Seed vs Transplants
You can grow blanket flower from seed or you can buy potted plants. I’ve done both.
The plants I started from seeds outperformed the transplants in every way — they grew faster, flowered more, and held up better during heat waves. By fall, they were still blooming profusely, while the transplants looked bedraggled. Plus, a packet of seeds costs a few dollars compared to plants that cost $15.
How to Start From Seed
You can easily buy seeds (they come in so many interesting varieties!), but if you have one plant in your garden, it’s easy to collect seeds. You can see the dried flower heads among the blooms in the picture below.
Just let them completely dry, then snip them off, and you’ll get all the seeds you could possibly want. They are about the same size as a marigold seed.
I sow the seeds as l do any wildflower. You can learn more about sowing wildflower seeds here. You can also use seeds to start plants indoors to transplant outside.
How to Plant Transplants
The rule of thumb when planting any perennial in the desert is to dig a hole twice as wide as the root ball but no deeper. Amending the soil is not recommended. Counterintuitively, backfilling with the same native soil you just dug up helps your plant develop a stronger root system.
The best time to plant blanket flower is in the fall. This gives it three seasons to grow roots and get established before the following summer.
The second best time is in spring, the earlier the better. This still gives your plant time to get established before the intense heat of June arrives.
How to Care for Blanket Flower
Whether you’ve recently planted a blanket flower or have an existing one in your yard, here’s how to take care of it to keep it healthy and looking its best.
How to Water
During the first growing season, give your plant about 1/2 gallon of water once a week while it’s establishing its root system.
After that, the University of Arizona recommends watering desert perennials on this schedule:
| Spring (March – May) | 10 – 14 days |
| Summer (May – Oct.) | 7 – 10 days |
| Fall (Oct. – Dec.) | 10 – 14 days |
| Winter (Dec – March) | 14 – 21 days |
Be careful not to overwater. Blanket flower can develop root rot if overwatered, especially when grown in containers.
Should You Fertilize?
Blanket flowers grown in the ground do not need to be fertilized. If you’re growing them in containers, feed them occasionally as you would other flowering container plants.
How to Prune
Cut blanket flower back to a few inches in the early spring to stimulate new growth.
Removing spent flowers is recommended to encourage more blooms. This also provides you with a source of free seeds. Or you can leave the seed heads for the birds. I usually trim some and leave some for the birds.
Bring some cheer indoors — blanket flowers make good cut flowers.
Blanket Flower Cultivars
There are dozens of blanket flower cultivars. Here’s a sampling:
- Arizona Sun – most popular, profuse, long-lasting flowers
- Celebration – scarlet red flowers
- Dwarf Goblin – bushy, good for containers
- Oranges and Lemons – pale orange flowers tipped with yellow
- Red Sun – compact, orange-red flowers
- Sun Devil – compact, pinwheel flowers
You can learn about more varieties at Gardenia.net and Monrovia.com.
Plant Lover Facts
Blanket flower (Gaillardia x grandiflower) is hybrid of two native wildflowers, Gaillardia aristata and Gaillardia pulchella. Each are valuable additions to the garden in their own right.
Both are native to the central Great Plains and to the western United States. They grow in the open plains and prairies and have large native ranges that include Arizona, Utah, California, New Mexico, Nevada, and Colorado.
Gaillardia aristata (great blanket flower or common blanket flower) is a perennial that blooms spring through fall. It has a wide natural range that extends from Utah and Colorado north through Northern Canada. It has many traditional medicinal uses among the Native Americans.
Gaillardia pulchella (Indian blanket or firewheel) is an annual that blooms spring through summer. Its natural range includes Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, and Northern Mexico.
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Author Bio
Deane Alban is the creator of Southwest Gardener. She is a science writer with a bachelor’s degree in botany from the University of South Florida. Gardening is her lifelong passion. She’s been gardening in Tucson for 15 years.
