Common blanket flower
Gaillardia aristata · Asteraceae
The wild blanket flower of the northern plains and Rockies: yellow daisies with a red-brown centre, on hairy, grey-green plants.
- Size
- 24 in tall, 18 in wide
- Zones
- 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Flowers
- Mid June to early September
- Pets
- No toxicity recorded
- Job in a bed
- Drift
A bed built around common blanket flower
The planner designed this bed around common blanket flower when this page was made: a 12 × 6 ft (3.7 × 1.8 m) cottage garden 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 common blanket flower stands where it does.
The plants
- 1 Common blanket flower × 3, yellow
- 2 Winter heath × 5, pink
- 3 Candytuft × 3, white
- 4 Stiff goldenrod × 3, yellow
- 5 Smooth aster 'Bluebird' × 4, blue
- 6 Silver sage × 1, silver leaves
- 7 Ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' × 5, purple
- 8 Star of Persia × 5, purple
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 24 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 ornamental onion 'Purple Sensation' (2½ ft) and smooth aster 'Bluebird' (3½ 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 13 weeks. From mid June to early September.
- Fills a gap. For 7 of those weeks nothing else on the plan is in flower.
Planned as a cottage garden: 19 of the 19 plants (100%), bulbs aside, stand alone or in groups of no more than five, small enough for the kinds to mingle. The flowers run from late January to mid October: 38 weeks in all. The bed is balanced: the left half carries 47% of the visual weight and the right half 53%.
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 common blanket flower goes in a border
At 24 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.
Tougher and longer-lived than its garden hybrids, and a parent of them all. It belongs in a dry meadow with native grasses, where it seeds itself about.
- Dry meadow and prairie planting
- Native pollinator gardens
- Poor, sandy soil
What to plant with common 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; happy in the same dry soil.
- Blue grama 'Blonde Ambition': in flower together for nine weeks, from mid July; happy in the same dry soil.
- Blue flax: blue against yellow, opposite each other on the colour wheel, in flower together for five weeks; happy in the same dry soil.
Questions about common blanket flower
Does common blanket flower need sun or shade?
Common 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. Once settled in, it stands drought.
What zones does common blanket flower grow in?
USDA zones 3 to 8. It is hardy to zone 3, which means it survives winter nights down to about −30 °F (−34 °C).
Above zone 8 it struggles: the zones measure winter cold, but a plant's top zone usually means the summers are too hot or the winters too mild for it to rest.
Gardening in Canada? Use the USDA zone for your town: Canada's own zone map uses different numbers.
When does common blanket flower flower in my zone?
In zone 5 it flowers mid June to early September. As a summer flower it moves about half a week for every zone: earlier where it is warmer.
| Zone 3 | Late June to early September |
|---|---|
| Zone 4 | Late June to early September |
| Zone 5 | Mid June to early September |
| Zone 6 | Mid June to early September |
| Zone 7 | Early June to early September |
| Zone 8 | Early June to early 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 common 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 18 in (45 cm), so a group knits into one patch.
It grows 24 in (60 cm) tall. Give it the full distance from anything taller, or it will lean out towards the light.
How many common 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 common 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.
Do deer eat common blanket flower?
Mostly not. NC State lists it as resistant to deer. No plant is proof against a hungry deer in a hard winter, but this one is low on the menu.
Will common blanket flower spread?
It seeds itself about; the risk of it taking over is moderate. Self-seeds in open, dry soil. Deadhead it to limit seedlings.
What flowers after common blanket flower?
Common blanket flower is over by early 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.
- Bottle gentian: from late August to early October, 20 in tall.
- October daphne: from mid September to late October, 8 in tall, to stand in front of it and cover its fading stems.
What does common blanket flower look like in winter?
Common blanket flower 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 common blanket flower good for bees and butterflies?
Common blanket flower is visited by pollinators, bees, butterflies, moths and songbirds.
It is native to the United States and Canada.
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'
- Blanket flower 'Mesa Yellow' Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Mesa Yellow'
In these guides
- Deer-resistant perennials for full sun
- Drought-tolerant perennials for full sun
- Pet-safe plants for a sunny border
- Native perennials for pollinators
- Garden plants native to Canada
- Plants for butterflies
- Plants for bees
- Plants that feed garden birds
- 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
Every fact on record
- Type
- Perennial
- Size
- 24 in (60 cm) tall, 18 in (45 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 early September; daisies; yellow, red
- Leaves
- Medium texture, herbaceous; grey-green
- Shape
- Upright, self-seeding
- Hardy in
- USDA zones 3 to 8
- Light
- Full sun
- Soil
- Lean, dry and sharply drained
- Water
- Low
- Feeding
- None needed
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Comes from
- Subarctic America to the Northern United States
- Attracts
- Pollinators, bees, butterflies, moths, songbirds
- Stands up to
- Deer, drought, heat, poor soil
Checked against NC State Extension and VASCAN (plants of Canada). 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.