Blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow'
Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Mesa Yellow' · Asteraceae
Pure, bright lemon-yellow daisies, centre and all, on a bushy, well-branched plant that does not flop.
- Size
- 18 in tall, 20 in wide
- Zones
- 5 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 'Mesa Yellow'
The planner designed this bed around blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow' 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 'Mesa Yellow' stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow' × 5, yellow
- 2 Candytuft × 5, white
- 3 Winter heath × 7, pink
- 4 Pale purple coneflower × 3, pink
- 5 Switchgrass 'Shenandoah' × 3, green leaves
- 6 Eastern prickly pear × 1, yellow
- 7 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 4, purple
- 8 Triteleia 'Queen Fabiola' × 12, blue
Why this plant
- Nothing here is unique to it. Its leaf, flower shape and colour are all on the plan already. Its case rests on where it stands and when it performs.
Why here
- At the back. At 18 in it is seen over winter heath (10 in) in front of it, and has nothing behind it to hide.
- A step in the back row. Next to switchgrass 'Shenandoah' (4 ft) and pale purple coneflower (3 ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 5 plants in one group. Massed, one kind reads as a single shape. Scattered, it would look spotty.
Why now
- In flower for 17 weeks. From mid June to early October.
- Closes the season. For its last 11 weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 4 of the 5 groups (80%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. The scheme leans cool (pink, purple and blue) and uses yellow for warmth, with white to calm things between them. The flowering is at its height from mid June, with 4 kinds out together.
The planner's own design check: 12 Excellent, 5 Good. 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 'Mesa Yellow' goes in a border
At 18 in it belongs at the front of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is short (12 to 18 in).
Its job: drift. Planted in a small group of three or five, and repeated further along in the other number.
A clean yellow without a trace of red, bred to flower fast from seed and stay compact. It is the easiest blanket flower to combine with blues and purples.
- Clear yellow all summer
- Containers
- Dry, sunny borders
What to plant with blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow'
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Meadow sage 'Caradonna': purple against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, in flower together for five weeks; spires rising out of its mound.
- Catmint 'Walker's Low': in flower together for 14 weeks, from mid June; spires rising out of its mound; happy in the same dry soil.
- Blue fescue: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; low enough (10 in) to stand in front of it; happy in the same dry soil.
Questions about blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow'
Does blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow' need sun or shade?
Blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow' 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 'Mesa Yellow' grow in?
USDA zones 5 to 9. It is hardy to zone 5, which means it survives winter nights down to about −10 °F (−23 °C).
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow' 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 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 'Mesa Yellow' be planted?
16 in (40 cm) apart, from the middle of one plant to the middle of the next. That is a little closer than its full width of 20 in (50 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 18 in (45 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow' plants do I need?
At 16 in apart, set out in staggered rows:
- 7 to fill 10 square feet (about 1 m²)
- 8 for a single row 10 ft (3 m) long
- 21 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 five in one group.
Is blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow' 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 'Mesa Yellow'?
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 'Mesa Yellow'?
Blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow' 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, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- 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 'Mesa Yellow' look like in winter?
Blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow' 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 'Mesa Yellow' good for bees and butterflies?
Blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow' 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 'Arizona Sun' Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Arizona Sun'
- Blanket flower 'Burgundy' Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Burgunder'
- Blanket flower 'Goblin' Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Kobold'
- 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
- Long-flowering plants: 12 weeks or more
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 18 in (45 cm) tall, 20 in (50 cm) wide
- Plant
- 16 in (40 cm) apart
- Height class
- Short (12 to 18 in)
- Place in the bed
- Front
- Flowers
- Mid June to early October; daisies; yellow
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; green
- Shape
- Mounding, clumping
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 5 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.