Blanket flower
Gaillardia x grandiflora · Asteraceae
Daisies banded in red and yellow, like a woven blanket, from early summer to frost. It flowers hardest in poor, dry soil and is short-lived in rich or wet ground.
- Size
- 20 in tall, 20 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 9
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Mid June to mid September
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Drift
A bed built around blanket flower
The planner designed this bed around blanket flower 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 stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Blanket flower × 3, red
- 2 Winter heath × 9, pink
- 3 Sea thrift × 5, white
- 4 Stiff goldenrod × 5, yellow
- 5 Little bluestem 'Standing Ovation' × 3, tan
- 6 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 7 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 4, purple
- 8 Spring starflower × 12, blue
Why this plant
- The only daisies. The others are bells, globes, flat plates and others. Shape reads at a distance, where colours blur.
- The only red.
- The only medium leaves here. The rest are fine and bold. A change of leaf keeps plants distinct when nothing is in flower.
Why here
- At the back. At 20 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 stiff goldenrod (4 ft) and ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' (2½ ft): no two neighbours there are the same height, so the back steps up and down like a skyline.
- 3 plants in one group. Massed, one kind reads as a single shape. Scattered, it would look spotty.
Why now
- In flower for 15 weeks. From mid June to mid September.
- Fills a gap. For 7 of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as an English border: 5 of the 5 groups (100%) are drifts, longer along the bed than they are deep. Stiff goldenrod and little bluestem 'Standing Ovation' anchor the back corners of the bed: the tallest plants on the plan stand there. The longest in flower is blanket flower: 15 weeks, from mid June to mid September.
The planner's own design check: 12 Excellent, 4 Good, 1 Satisfactory. 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 goes in a border
At 20 in it belongs in the middle of a bed. In the planner's ten height classes it is medium short (18 to 24 in).
Its job: drift. Planted in a small group of three or five, and repeated further along in the other number.
The hottest-coloured daisy, and the longest in flower. Keep it with other hot colours and grasses, or cool it with blue catmint. It lives two or three years; lean soil and sharp drainage make it last.
- Hot colour for dry, sunny sites
- Seaside and sandy gardens
- Cut flowers
What to plant with blanket flower
Plants recorded as good partners for it, and what each pairing does:
- Little bluestem: its blue-green leaves are a setting for the flowers, before and after; tall enough (3 ft) to stand behind it; happy in the same dry soil.
- 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.
- Yarrow 'Moonshine': in flower together for nine weeks, from mid June; happy in the same dry soil.
Questions about blanket flower
Does blanket flower need sun or shade?
Blanket flower 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 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 flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers mid June to mid September. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 3 | Late June to mid September |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Late June to mid September |
| Zone 5 | Mid June to mid September |
| Zone 6 | Mid June to mid September |
| Zone 7 | Early June to mid September |
| Zone 8 | Early June to mid September |
| Zone 9 | Late May to mid September |
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 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 20 in (50 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many blanket flower 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 three in one group.
Is blanket flower 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.
Is there a native plant like blanket flower?
Blanket flower is not native to North America. These North American natives come closest to doing its job:
- Blanket flower 'Burgundy': the same job in a bed, the same flowering time and the same colour; 4 in taller.
- Tickseed 'Sunray': the same job in a bed and the same size; flowers early June to late August, yellow, not red.
- Coneflower 'PowWow Wild Berry': the same job in a bed, the same size and the same flowering time; pink, not red, wants average soil.
Matched the way the planner's Swap button matches plants: the same job in a bed, then size, then flowering time.
What flowers after blanket flower?
Blanket flower is over by mid September. These start as it finishes and carry the same spot on, so it never goes flat:
- Garden chrysanthemum: from mid September to late October, 24 in tall.
- October daphne: from mid September to late October, 8 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
- Meadow saffron: from mid September to mid October, 6 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
What does blanket flower look like in winter?
Blanket flower dies down to the ground and there is nothing to see until spring. The old stems can be cut in autumn, or left until spring as shelter for overwintering insects.
More Gaillardia
- Blanket flower 'Arizona Sun' Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Arizona Sun'
- 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
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny 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
- 20 in (50 cm) tall, 20 in (50 cm) wide
- Plant
- 16 in (40 cm) apart
- Height class
- Medium short (18 to 24 in)
- Place in the bed
- Middle
- Flowers
- Mid June to mid September; 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
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.