2. Family:Asteraceae
Origin-There are over two dozen species of Gaillardia
and most are native to some area of North
America.Gaillardia pulchella, which is native from
southeastern U.S. through to Colorado and south into
Mexico, was cross bred withGaillardia aristata, a prairie
flower, to createGaillardiaXgrandiflora
Genus:GaillardiaEpitheton:x grandiflora (G arista
(perennial) x G pulchella (annual))
Gaillardia grandiflora (hyb.)
MorphologyOverallHeight of plant (m):0.1 - 0.7
Roots and stemDescription :With multicellular hairs,
somewhat sticky.
Description of seed:Achenes
.Description of fruit:Achenes obovoid, with a pappus of
scales with apical bristle.
3. Gaillardia pulchellaFoug. is subdivided into
partially interfertile cytotypes which are in some
cases morphologically recognizable.
The greatest morphological and cytological
variation occurs in the southern and eastern
portions of thespecies range.
The evolutionary history of the species cannot be
determined from the cytological information
presented here although paleoclimatic information
suggests the species or its ancestral form would
have occupied areas to the south or west of the
present distribution during the late Pleistocene-
Recent climatic shifts.
4. propagule:Achenes.
Phyllotaxy:alternate ,opposite
FlowerDescription of inflorescence:Flowers in
capitula, phyllaries in 2-3 rows, more or less
herbaceous, becoming reflexed before fruiting.
Capitula radiate,receptacle strongly convex to
subglobose, with bristle-like receptical scales.
Description of flower:Outer florets ligulate, usually
female, inner florets tubular, bisexual
.Colour of flower:white yellow variable
orangevariable pink no brown red variable
purplen blue green
Additional informationUses:As ornamental.
Current distribution:Europe: Austria, Belgium,
Germany, Netherlands. North America:
USA.Distribution:Biochemistry and molecular data
6. Most of the modern blanket flowers
areGaillardiaXgrandifloraDescriptionGaillarida forms a slowly
spreading mound.
Although generally short-lived, it can reseed and sprawl
through the garden.
Since the original plants are hybrids, expect some variation
from self-seeding.
Leaves: Lance-shaped gray-green leaves are sometimes
lobed.Flowers: 3-5" across, in various shades of yellow and
red.
Some have petals surrounding a center disk which produces
florets.
Others have trumpet-shaped florets surround the entire disk.
They can handle some partial shade, particularly in hot
climates, but they will get a bit floppy and will not flower as
profusely
7. garaillardia Varieties
Gaillardia x grandiflora ‘Goblin’ was the standard cultivar for
many years, but the actual color (red versus orange red and
the red to yellow balance) varies from one cultivar to the
next.
The only way to know exactly what you are getting is to go
vegetative and get cuttings of a superior form. The seed
types, even though there is some variability, are still the
economical way to grow the crop, and sometimes the
variability can be a good thing at the retaillevel.
In general, gaillardia breaks up into three groups: doubles,
singles and species or novelty.
Pure red, pure yellow and bi-color forms make up the double-
flowered types.
Seed doubles often have a percentage of seedlings that
revert to single flowers, so the cutting produced types like the
Torch series, from Ball FloraPlant, eliminate the off types and
8. • However, the Lorenziana Mix from Sahin has
a lot of color forms that are really unique, so it
depends on what you want to grow.
• Otherwise, among the doubles, there isn’t a
big difference between the growth habits or
flowers of the different double cultivars.
• Still, these plants are true show-stoppers, so
they will really add to late-spring and summer
sales.In singles there is the same color
breakdown, roughly, with varying degrees of
red petals with yellow tips dominating the
selection of single forms.
• The interesting stuff is in the burgundy forms,
and again color varies with your environment
and.
9. There are about 30 cultivars on the market, but they are
almost all from the hybridization of two native species
G. aristata (native to North America) and G. pulchella
(native to Mexico and the Southern United States) are
the parents ofG. x grandiflora. G. aristata is from the high
plains and gives its progeny cold hardiness, while G.
pulchella provides the heat tolerance and humidity
tolerance of the Sunbelt.
G. pulchella also has a slightly more succulent leaf than
G. aristata. For most of us, the difference between the
two is probably not obvious but still kind of neat to know.
Gaillardia aestivalis is a species that generally has an
incomplete single flower with petals separated by large
gaps aroundthe central disc. Flowers may be white,
yellow or reddish purple. Gaillardia pinnatifida is very
similar to G. aestivalis with pinnate leaves. All of these
species willintercross, so expect a lot of overlap in
10. • The Sunset dwarf series makes 14-inch mounds of
colorfast flowers, including Sunset Cutie (bronzy red with
cream border),
• Sunset Flash (red-orange with yellow tips), and Sunset
Snappy (purple pink rays with cream-yellow tips).
• Sunset medium varieties are just a couple of inches taller
and come in a variety of bicolors.
• There’s Sunset Candy (pink, cream border), Sunset
Mexican (yellow rays with pink base), Sunset Popsy (deep
pink, cream-yellow tips), Sunset Spice (red orange, yellow
tips), and Sunset Sunrise (yellow rays, orange bases, red-
orange centers). Rays come in doublerows.
11. • “Breeding of Gaillardia is going in several directions: toward smaller
plants whose flowers don’t flop, toward solid colors, toward single
flowers with trumpet-shaped rays, and toward double flowers”, the
National Garden Bureau (NGB) in the US announced 2015 Year of the
Gaillardia..
• “The following group includes examples of traditional Gaillardia x
grandiflora flowers with flat rays.
• The Lunar series grows just 8 to 10 inches tall. Harvest Moon has
yellow rays with red base and central disc, while Two Moon is red with
yellow tips.
Plants in the foot-tall Arizona series were All-America Selections twice:
Arizona Sun, with its red and yellow flowers, won in 2005, while yellow-
tipped, soft-orange Arizona Apricot won in 2011.
The Gallo series comes in solids (Gallo Red, Gallo Yellow) and two-
toned versions such as Gallo Fire (red with yellow tips and a dark red
center) and Gallo Peach (peach center and rays, yellow tips). They have
extra large flowers on foot-tall plants.
Kobold (‘Goblin’) comes in at around 13 inches. It’s an old standard, with
yellow-tipped red flowers.
• Goldkobold (Golden Goblin) is an all-yellow version.