Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun'
Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Arizona Sun' · Asteraceae Popular
Large daisies of mahogany red, tipped with bright yellow, cover a compact mound from early summer until frost.
- Size
- 12 in tall, 14 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Mid June to early October
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Drift
A bed built around blanket flower 'Arizona Sun'
The planner designed this bed around blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) English border in zone 6, full sun. It chose the other plants from the 715 that suit those conditions and its dry soil, and says below why blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' × 6, red
- 2 Sea thrift × 3, white
- 3 Little bluestem 'The Blues' × 3, tan
- 4 False sunflower 'Summer Nights' × 3, yellow
- 5 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 6 Butterfly weed × 3, orange
- 7 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 4, purple
- 8 Spring starflower × 12, blue
Why this plant
- The only red.
Why here
- On the front edge. At 12 in it frames the bed without hiding it, and it is in leaf all season. It finishes 53% of the edge.
- 6 plants in 2 runs (3 and 3). Short runs, with other plants between, make the edge a frame, not a ruled line.
Why now
- In flower for 17 weeks. From mid June to early October.
- Fills a gap. For one of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 5 of the 6 groups (83%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The longest in flower is blanket flower 'Arizona Sun': 17 weeks, from mid June to early October. The scheme leans hot (red, yellow and orange) and uses purple and blue for relief, with white and tan to calm things between them.
The planner's own design check: 12 Excellent, 4 Good, 1 Needs revision. Its weakest point is room to grow: The plants cover 36% of the bed at their mature width; the rest is mulch. That is sparse. It flags one thing to watch: Nothing on this plan is highly poisonous or an aggressive spreader.
Open this bed in the planner Change its size, the sun or the style, move plants about, or swap one for another.
Where blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' goes in a border
At 12 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is low (6 to 12 in).
Its job: drift. Planted in a small group of three or five, and repeated further along in the other number.
The most widely sold blanket flower: short, uniform and never out of flower. Like all its kind it is short-lived in rich or wet soil. Starve it and it lasts.
- Hot colour at the front of a dry border
- Containers
- Butterflies
What to plant with blanket flower 'Arizona Sun'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Blue fescue: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; happy in the same dry soil.
- Threadleaf coreopsis 'Moonbeam': in flower together for 12 weeks, from late June; happy in the same dry soil.
- Salvia 'May Night': purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, in flower together for five weeks; spires rising out of its mound; tall enough (24 in) to stand behind it.
Questions about blanket flower 'Arizona Sun'
Does blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' need sun or shade?
Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' grows in full sun (6 or more hours of direct sun a day).
It wants dry, sharply drained soil, on the lean side, with no feeding, and little watering once settled.
What zones does blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 9. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers mid June to early October. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 3 | Late June to early October |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Late June to early October |
| Zone 5 | Mid June to early October |
| Zone 6 | Mid June to early October |
| Zone 7 | Early June to early October |
| Zone 8 | Early June to early October |
| Zone 9 | Late May to early October |
Worked out from Hopkins' bioclimatic law: spring arrives about four days later for each degree of latitude north, and one zone is roughly two degrees. A warm spring or a cold one moves any garden two weeks either way.
How far apart should blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' be planted?
12 in (30 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 14 in (35 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 12 in (30 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' plants do I need?
At 12 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 12 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 11 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 38 to fill a 4 × 8 ft bed on its own
In a mixed border, plant it as a group of three or five, with a second group further along in the other number.
In the bed above, the planner used six in two groups.
Is blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' poisonous to dogs and cats?
No toxicity is recorded for dogs, cats, horses or people, according to NC State Extension.
"Not toxic" is not "edible": a pet that eats a lot of any plant can be sick.
Do deer eat blanket flower 'Arizona Sun'?
Mostly not. NC State lists it as resistant to deer and rabbits. No plant is proof against a hungry deer in a hard winter, but this one is low on the menu.
What flowers after blanket flower 'Arizona Sun'?
Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' is over by early October. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Japanese onion 'Ozawa': from early October to early November, 10 in tall.
- Chrysanthemum 'Sheffield Pink': from late September to early November, 2½ ft tall.
- Tatarian aster 'Jindai': from early October to early November, 4 ft tall.
What does blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' look like in winter?
Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' dies down, but leave the stems standing: the seed heads stand through the winter, and songbirds eat the seed. Cut them down in early spring, before the new shoots come.
Is blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' good for bees and butterflies?
Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' is visited by pollinators, butterflies and songbirds.
It is native to the United States (this is a named variety of the native plant).
More Gaillardia
- Blanket flower Gaillardia x grandiflora
- Blanket flower 'Burgundy' Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Burgunder'
- Blanket flower 'Goblin' Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Kobold'
- Blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow' Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Mesa Yellow'
- Common blanket flower Gaillardia aristata
In these guides
- Salt-tolerant plants for roadsides and coasts
- Deer-resistant perennials for full sun
- Rabbit-resistant plants
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Native perennials for pollinators
- Plants for butterflies
- Plants that feed garden birds
- Low plants for the front of a border
- Long-flowering plants: 12 weeks or more
- Silver and grey-leaved plants
Zone guides: Zone 3 · Zone 4 · Zone 5 · Zone 6 · Zone 7 · Zone 8 · Zone 9
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 12 in (30 cm) tall, 14 in (35 cm) wide
- Plant
- 12 in (30 cm) apart
- Height class
- Low (6 to 12 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Mid June to early October; daisies; red, yellow
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; grey-green
- Shape
- Mounding, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Comes from
- Western USA
- Attracts
- Pollinators, butterflies, songbirds
- Stands up to
- Deer, rabbits, humidity, salt
Checked against NC State Extension. Flowering times are for zone 5: later in colder zones, earlier in warmer ones. Toxicity and spread information is a general gardening guide, not veterinary or medical advice, and invasive status varies by region. If a person or pet eats a plant, contact poison control or a vet. Check your local invasive species list before planting anything with a spread warning.