Gaillardia


1 entry found.
Picture of Gaillardia Gaillardia
Common Name: Blanket Flower, Indian Blanket, Gaillardia
Botanical Name: Gaillardia X grandiflora (G. aristata) (gay-LAR-dee-a gran-di-FLOR-a)
Decorative Life: 5-10 days at most.
Post Harvest Care:
  • Remove bottom leaves if present, recut stems under water and place into a fresh flower food solution.
  • Often have weak stems.
Harvest Instructions: Engle et al. (1994) noted that seed-propagated plugs can be stored at about 27F up to 6 weeks if given sufficient light and low temperature treatments prior to storage.
Family Roots:
  • Member of the Asteraceae or Compositae (aster or sunflower) family.
  • Native to North America.
  • Related species include chrysanthemum, dahlia, marigold, zinnia.
Personality:
  • Flower heads are 2-4 inches wide, consist of 1-2 rows of showy ray flowers around a dark center, and are solitary at stem ends.
  • Stems 20-28 inches long.
  • Plant is a herbaceous perennial, classed as a dicotyledon, leaves not parallel veined.
  • Flowers have no fragrance.
Availability: Summer, autumn.
Flower Color: Yellow, orange, red, bicolors.
Storage Specifics: It can be stored for only 3-6 days at 34-38 degrees F, but storage is not recommended.
Tidbits:
  • Named after 18th century French magistrate and botanical patron, Gaillard de Charentonneau.
  • Double flower forms are also available. The specific epithet name "grandiflora" means large flowers. The X in the name means that this species is a cross between at least two species having the same genus.
  • The Compositae or aster family is vast, with over 20,000 species, and is also one of the most developed families. It was named Compositae because the flowers are actually a "composite" of many individual flowers into one head. Hence, when children pull one "petal" off at a time, saying "she/he loves me, loves me not", they are actually removing a complete flower, not just a petal.
Recent Findings: Yuan et al. (1995) determined that this species requires to have 10 developed leaves before flower initiation can proceed.