Blanket Flower Other Common Names: Indian Blanket Flower, Indian Blanket, Firewheel, Girasol Rojo Scientific Name: Gaillardia pulchella Native to Alabama: Yes
	Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller Click on image to enlarge it

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Basic Plant Information
	I am a vascular plant with no woody stems above ground, so I am herbaceous. I do not keep leaves year-round, so I am deciduous. I complete my life cycle in one growing season and die in the winter, so I am annual. I can grow 1 - 1.5 feet high and 0.5 - 1 feet wide.
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Campbell and Lynn Loughmiller Click on image to enlarge it

 
























 

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Ecological Benefits

This plant provides food for:
Butterflies	Native Bees	Other Pollinators	Other Birds

Other Plants Found in Alabama with Similar Ecological Benefits:
Lanceleaf Blanketflower (Gaillardia aestivalis)	Great Blanketflower/Brown-eyed Susan (Gaillardia aristata)

  

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Maintenance Notes
Flowers can be cut for an indoor vase. Bloom period can be lengthened by deadheading (cutting back) spent flowers. Dormant in winter. Will not survive water-logged soil. When watering, hold hose to base of plant for a count of 5 seconds.  Water should reach all roots. Avoid sprinkling water on the leaves. Requires average amount of water.
Average watering: water two times per week during the summer and once per week during the rest of the year.

 

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Habitat Requirements
This plant prefers:
Full Sun (6+ hours of sun per day) Part Sun/ Shade (2-6 hours of sun per day)		Average Watering	Well-drained, Sandy, or Loamy Soil

 

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Leaf, Flower & Seed Identification
LEAF DESCRIPTION						Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Wildflower Center Staff Click on image to enlarge it
Leaf Characteristics Chart (JPG)
Shape:	Margin:			Arrangement:	Form:
Lanceolate	Entire,	Serrate,	Lobed	Alternate	Simple
Description:
Hairy branched stems usually become woody at the base; mostly leafy near the base and leafless at the top; lower leaves are petiolate (have a stalk) and upper leaves are sessile (attached directly to stem); leaves are hairy, gray-green, and up to 3 inches long, margins range from entire to toothed to lobed

      

FLOWER DESCRIPTION				Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Randy Heisch Click on image to enlarge it
Flower Shapes Chart (JPG)
Color: Red, yellow, brown	Shape: Radiate/ ligulate		Bloom Months: May - Aug
Description:
Flower heads 1-2 inches in diameter with red center and yellow outer band; ray florets (narrow, petal-like, infertile floret that surround the disk) are red at the base and yellow at the tip, each with 3 teeth at the broad end; disk florets (tubular, fertile floret that forms disk) are reddish brown; flowers are sometimes all red or yellow

   

SEED DESCRIPTION			Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center Bruce Leander Click on image to enlarge it
Type: Fruit - Dry Seed Pod	Description: seed pod is small, black, and awned (has hair- or bristle-like appendage)	Months in Seed: Summer - Fall
Plant spreads by:
Seeds Re-seeds readily in optimal growing conditions

 

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Plant Life Cycle
Plant Life Cycle: All plants start life as a seed. The seed turns into a sprout when it grows roots. The sprout becomes a seedling as grows a stem and leaves above the ground. After the seedling becomes an adult plant it will grow flowers.
	General Plant Life Cycle - Dreamstime Click on image to enlarge it
Plant Life Cycle continues: After the flowers finish blooming, each flower turns into a seed. When the seeds fall down to the ground, the plant life cycle starts again. Each seed can become a plant if it has the food, water and space that it needs to grow.
	Lady Bird Johnsol Wildflower Center Steven Schwartzman Click on image to enlarge it

 

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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR TEACHERS

 

Quick Fact Sheet (Condensed Species Info)

Plant ID Sign: Ready as-is PDF

Plant ID Sign: Editable Word Doc

QR Code (Links to this Webpage)

 

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INFORMATION SOURCES FOR THIS PLANT

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Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center's Plant Database		USDA Plants Database
Alabama Plant Atlas		Florida Native Plant Society
Missouri Botanical Garden		North Carolina Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox

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