Gaillardia Burgunder seeds - Great Blanket flower

The seeds of Perennial Blanket Flower 'Burgunder' or Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Burgunder' produce a plant with continuous flowering from June to October. Its flowers, resembling large daisies, display an intense deep burgundy red surrounding a yellow and blood-red centre. It forms harmonious medium-sized clumps, composed of sturdy stems and velvety grey-green foliage. A short-lived perennial, but of exemplary robustness, it withstands cold, heat, and drought. Its only weakness is sensitivity to excessive moisture. Almost fail-proof, this versatile plant finds a place in all rustic or natural gardens.

Gaillardia x grandiflora is a horticultural hybrid resulting from cross-breeding between Gaillardia aristata, a perennial native to the great central plains of North America, and Gaillardia pulchella, an almost annual plant, native to northern Mexico and the southern and central United States. Belonging, like its two parents and like the sunflower, to the large family of asteraceae, this hybrid has inherited from its first parent a good hardiness and increased longevity, and from the second its extraordinary floriferousness, rapid growth, and extremely undemanding nature.

'Burgunder' forms a clump 60 cm in all directions, covered from summer to autumn with large heads measuring 4 to 7 cm, where pollinating insects gather. Their colour is an intense red that does not fade in the sun. The entire flower is enlivened by a highly contrasting bicolour centre, with a yellow central disc and a peripheral circle of tiny blood-red florets. The foliage, mainly basal, is composed of narrow, slightly lobed or deeply cut leaves, greenish-grey and velvety.

Blanket Flower is sown under cover or directly in place and thrives in light, well-drained, and rich soils. It easily withstands drought and heat, so do not hesitate to plant it in full sun. Due to its habit of abundant self-seeding, it is recommended to remove faded flowers to encourage new blooms and prevent excessive spreading. Although considered somewhat old-fashioned nowadays, blanket flowers, alongside Coreopsis grandiflora and gauras, remain among the champions of floral abundance. The main drawback of these plants is their sensitivity to ambient moisture, even in well-drained soil. In warm gardens, especially in average quality soils, blanket flower proves to be a real boon, harmoniously pairing with lavenders, rosemary, cotton lavenders, rockroses, bloody cranesbill geranium, as well as wormwoods and grasses like Stipa, all as undemanding as they are floriferous. In a meadow, consider combining oxeye daisies or pincushion flowers with your blanket flowers.