Pronounciation: Ga-il-LAR-dee-a gran-di-FLOR-a

Hardiness zones
Sunset All zones
USDA 2-11

Landscape Use: Perennial flower gardens and borders, old-fashioned flower gardens, cut flowers, butterfly gardens, cool season annual in for landscape borders and xeric flower gardens Phoenix.

Form & Character: Stiffly upright to low and spreading, festive, innocent, old fashioned.

Growth Habit: Evergreen, herbaceous perennial mostly grown as a cool season annual in Phoenix. Growth rate is moderate with plants forming basal vegetative spreading clumps beneath upright flower stalks that can extend upward to 3-feet tall.

Foliage/Texture: Nearly sessile, gray greenish leaves, smooth, sometimes with crenate to clefted margins, 3-inches long or less, elongated to nearly linear; medium texture.

Flowers & Fruits: Daisy-like, up to 4-inches wide, usually red and yellow; flower color varies widely with varietal selection; fruit an achene

Seasonal Color: Flowers generally in spring and fall.

Temperature: Hardy of all but temperatures above 112^oF.

Light: Partial shade and eastern exposures are best in Phoenix.

Soil: Requires soils amended with organic compost for consistent performance.

Watering: Needs regular supplemental

Pruning: Little except to infrequently head back or remove flower stalks to prevent seed formation.

Propagation: Seed, easily germinates at 68^o to 86^oF.

Disease and Pests: None

Additional comments: Blanket flower is used all over United States as a perennial border accent. It actually grows and performs better in Tucson than Phoenix and even better in Arizona upland cities such as Flagstaff, Payson, Prescott, and Sierra Vista where it is a dependable warm season perennial floral garden accent plant. There are many named cultivars such as 'Goblin'.