Blanketflower

 Blanketflower (Gaillardia aristata) or Perennial Gaillardia is a native perennial wildflower. It displays showy, yellow ray-flowers with reddish brown central disk flowers. Blanketflower grows on sunny, well-drained sites in prairie meadows up to grassy openings in the mountains. It has an extensive bloom period beginning in early summer. It has a tap-root and is adapted it to more arid sites. It is tolerant of drought and requires supplemental moisture only during extended hot and dry conditions. It is widely distributed.

It does well on a variety of soil types, including loams to rocky to gravelly-sandy textures; and tolerates a soil pH range from slightly acidic to mildly alkaline. Blanketflower attains optimum growth in full sun, beginning in early spring until seed set in late summer. It occurs at elevations from 1,300 to 9,000 ft.

Spring seeding is preferred over late summer or dormant, fall planting dates.

Blanketflower plants tend to be moderately long-lived and may re-seed in abundance. A skin rash or irritation may develop following contact with juice or sap from the foliage.

Also known as Perennial Gaillardia and Indian Blanketflower.