Gaillardia

GAILLARDIA (gay-lahr’-di-ah). Blanket-flower. A genus of American herbaceous annuals, biennials and perennials of the Composite Family. Much grown cut flower favorites, they do best in full sunlight in a light, open, well-drained soil. The hardy annual kinds, reaching a height of 2 ft., bear large, showy, solitary heads with yellow or reddish rays and purple disks from June to frost. All types produce their flowers on long stems, which makes them ideal for indoor decorative purposes. The annuals are more beautiful than the other types, and the double varieties are considered handsomer than the singles. Grown alone, in the border or in beds, the flowers with their contrasting colors make an effective display.

The annuals and biennials are grown from seed sown indoors or in the. open garden ; the perennials can be propagated by seeds, division of the roots, cuttings taken in August or September, or root cuttings taken in early spring. Plants occasionally self-seed.

Of the annual species Gaillardia pulehella is the most popular; its heads are 2 in. across and the ray flowers yellow shaded with rose-purple at the base. The var. pieta produces even larger heads in varied shades; while var. lorenciana shows enlarged and tubular rays.

In the perennial group Gaillardia aristata (to 3 ft.) is one of the last plants in the garden to die. Its flower heads arc often 4 in. across; the ray flowers are yellow. The best red or brownish-red species is Gaillardia amblyodon, an annual, rather hairy.

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