Gaillardia pulchella seed

LATIN NAME: Gaillardia pulchella

COMMON NAME: Indian Blanket

The Indian blanket is the red-and-yellow daisy of the prairie, and the bright, banded heads open through the summer. The upright, bushy, short-lived perennial or annual plant carries the hairy, lobed leaves and the showy, daisy-like heads of the red or crimson ray flowers with the yellow tips and the dark centres through the summer and into the autumn, one of the fine, bright sights of the prairie garden. The plant is a fine, generous presence of the sunny border and the wildflower bed. It is a plant of the open, sunny, well-drained ground.

Scientific Research & Plant Biotechnology

The Indian blanket is a bright subject of the plant science, and the banded heads keep showing up in the work on the prairie daisies. The genetics of the bright, two-tone rays and the long flowering season has been studied steadily, and it keeps appearing in the studies of the prairie flowers, the annual daisies and the members of the daisy family. The hairy, lobed leaves and the bushy, upright habit have also made it a fine study plant, and the Indian blanket is a regular subject of the work on the bright banded daisies of the warm world.

Ecological & Economic Value & Wide Applications

The Indian blanket is a fine, generous plant of the sunny border and the wildflower bed. The showy, daisy-like heads of the red or crimson ray flowers with the yellow tips open through the summer, one of the fine, bright sights of the prairie garden, drawing the bees and the butterflies. The plant stands the heat and the dry, poor ground with the ease, and it is one of the fine choices for the wildflower meadow, the sunny border and the roadside planting, flowering on through the warm season. It has been written up in the horticultural and the ecological papers for the banded heads and the long, bright ways, and it is a fine, generous plant of the open, sunny, well-drained garden.

Cut the plants back after the first flush and they will come again with the fresh heads through the late summer.

To grow the Indian blanket from seed, sow the small, flat seeds across the surface of a tray of fine seed compost, with a light press, keep the tray in a bright, open spot and water gently, then set the young plants out after the last frosts. The seedlings push through within a couple of weeks and grow on steadily. With the sun and the well-drained ground, the red-and-yellow heads will open through the summer.

Season: Annual
Height: 10 inches
Bloom Season: Summer and fall
Bloom Color: red
Environment: Full sun
Soil Type: Well-drained, pH 6.2 – 7.2
Temperature: 70F
Average Germ Time: 14 – 21 days
Light Required: Yes
Depth: Seeds must be covered thinly, no more than the thickness of the seed
Moisture: Keep seeds moist until germination
Plant Spacing: 14 – 18 inches