Navajo blanket flowers for desert gardens
They stymie folks with heavy clay soils because the blanketflowers are allergic to excessive moisture. This is why they are showing up in arid landscapes all over the West. Few perennials are as able to thrive along with desert plants and bloom continuously in all seasons but summer. Plant these hot-colored mounding daisies in your garden whether by sowing seed or planting nursery grown plants. They're sure to brighten up a dull space, accent a dry streambed or create a bold hot color that blends with aloes and ocotillos.
The genus Gaillardia has two native wildflower species that share bees and butterflies under the common name, blanketflower. It was derived from the resemblance of bright red and yellow flowers to colorful blankets woven by the Pueblo tribes. Others say it was so ubiquitous that pioneers named it for covering huge expanses of ground with dense color, like a blanket.
Gaillardia aristata is found in the northern states from the Dakotas to Oregon and into Canada. Gaillardia pulchella is a southern species that ranges from Florida to New Mexico and Colorado. Both are exceptional pollinator species as they are usually host to bees and butterflies.
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Both of these species are often sown from seed to introduce the plants over a large area via erosion-control hydroseeding or hand broadcast. Author Mary Irish tells us, "I love to watch the (sown) seedlings bloom; they can be so different in flower color and from year to year." It shows the wide range of variation possible in these wild species when grown from seed.
The showiest blanketflowers from the garden center include the 30-plus hybrids of Gaillardia x grandiflora. That's an interspecies hybrid resulting from crosses of G. aristata and G. pulchella. Though not as tough in the heat as a species, the color range in these hybrids is hot, intense and highly variable. Hardy to Zone 3, they can survive the colder winter in high desert communities as well. Most of what you find for sale in six packs, quarts and gallon pots will be hybrids unless labeled as species. Plant or sow in the fall for best results next year.
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Again, blanketflowers do not tolerate overhead irrigation as it is prone to fungal diseases when wet, lacking air circulation and full sun. Beware of overwatering as even in porous soils the diseases will attack the foliage and flowers.
It's important to treat blanketflowers as you would annuals by promptly clipping off spent flowers to prevent seed formation that stops new bud development. Be diligent and you'll have nearly year-round flowering. Provide mild feeding as growth picks up in the spring to compensate for lean desert soil. Then cut back around the holidays to let the plants flourish and return with the new year.
Blanketflowers should be considered a short-lived perennial, which means it may die out after the second or third year. They readily self sow if you allow the last flowers of the season to go fully to seed and release it. If rains are adequate you may find those curiously colored flowers from seed make each year's crop unique. In the low desert, treat the hybrids like annual color, then be surprised if they survive the summer and starts up again in the fall. If not, sow and seed again this time next year.
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Blend blanketflowers with desert marigold (Baileya) and penstemons to create a colorful composition in a dry place. They are not tolerant of hot wind so plant in a protected location on the lee side of walls and buildings. Spot them into your streambed rock garden, along edges of trails to enjoy up close, and for color around swimming pools.
Just remember, if you are gardening in town, you'll enjoy the hybrids for bold, beautiful color amidst yards and buildings. If you're gardening out in the desert, buy potted species or seed because you need the roughest, toughest natives that take the heat and cold winter frosts. Enjoy the unpredictability of this highly variable wildflower. The beautiful colors of Navajo weaving will turn your desert landscape into a pow wow or a bright picnic blanket this year.
