Saturday, March 10, 2012

Plant ABC's - G is for Gaillardia

The ABC's of plants in my garden continues with Gaillardia 'Mesa Yellow'.  Cheerful and bright, the sunny yellow flowers have yellow centers to match.


It's a native prairie flower that blooms all summer, does well in full sun.  Also known commonly as Blanketflower, this low water-use plant adapts well to many different soil types.

 
Like many of the flowering plants in my garden this plant was planted in a temporary bed last fall.  It bloomed throughout the winter, but It's getting crowded in this spot and needs more sun so I'll move it to a sunnier spot soon and enjoy it so much I'll look for more when plant shopping this spring.

14 comments:

  1. So pretty. I've never planted one of these before. Might have to try it. Great rainy day for reading blogs. Stay dry:)

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    1. It is a good day for staying in and reading, we've had so many of these rainy days lately. I'm not complaining because I remember the drought all too well.

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  2. I love that you have temporary beds as well. Some people don't understand why I have them...and in winter, they are kind of bare....but that's because I'm stocking the beds with seeds or bulbs or a rose bush that will need eventual transplanting.

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    1. Temporary beds are important here, I should write more about them.

      You're on a roll with your last two comments I have two new ideas for posting.

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  3. Hi Shirley, I grow blanketflower (Gaillardia), but I just grow the orange, red and yellow variety that is so common along the roadsides. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen this solid yellow variation. I sure do like it!

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  4. I've never had much success with Gaillardia. Maybe it was the fact that we had poor summers whenever I grew it.

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    1. They like to stay on the dry side so if you had a lot of rain they would have been very unhappy.

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  5. That's a nice variety for sure. Gaillardia is one tough wildflower...

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  6. I don't recall seeing a solid yellow gaillardia before. At first glance it reminded me of a dandelion. It is pretty though. It looks like it is about to be consumed by mint.

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    1. It is quite a bit larger than a dandelion. Yes, the mint is taking over that spot, but that's intentional.

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  7. I've never seen the all yellow version. I've never had much luck with the 'regular' kind. Maybe I'll try again.

    Sun's out and beautiful here, but soggy. Hope you got a good amount of rain, too.

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    1. The wildflower ones grow great around here, I'll have to see how this newer intro does this summer.

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  8. I love that sunshine yellow...so bright and beautiful.

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