Do Blanket Flowers Spread?


Blanket Flower is a short lived perennial that is a hybrid, but blooms nearly the entire growing season from Early Summer until frost.  It is a cross between two species in the Gaillardia genus.  Gaillardia Aristata and Gaillardia Pulchella randomly cross bred in a garden in Belgium back in the 1800’s to produce Gaillardia grandiflora (Blanket Flower). A beautiful perennial that is widely grown today in gardens.Gaillardia x Grandiflora blanket flower bloom

Will Blanket Flower Take Over my flower bed?

Blanket Flower will spread via seed.  I’ve grown this flower for years in various flower beds and wildflower gardens.  Each bloom will produce numerous seeds that resemble bad-mitten birdies.  These seeds will be blown around by the wind, and frequently germinate the following Spring.

So, yes – Blanket Flower will spread by self-seeding.  Depending on how crowded a flower bed is, and the available competition, you may have dozens of volunteer seedlings each year.

I have some pictures below that illustrate the potential spread of Blanket Flower, these are all volunteers that showed up in the second year.

There are approximately 7 plants in this picture. But only one or two were originally planted.
The plants in this picture are all growing through a brick patio! So, yes, you can get a lot of pretty flowers where you least expect them.

How to control Blanket Flower?

The roots of Blanket Flower are quite short. This makes it very easy to pull up by the root as long as the soil is somewhat moist.  So, early Spring is a great time to remove unwanted seedlings.

Additionally, if you grow Blanket Flower where there is some competition present, the seeds will have less available sunlight to germinate.  Also, the plants will have to compete with the other flowers for available sunlight, limiting Blanket Flower’s spread.

This specimen is in the front of our backyard micro-prairie, very near the lawn.

By planting Blanket Flower in front of taller flowers, you will reduce the likelihood that the plant will spread amongst the taller plants.  This effectively limits the available area for the unwanted seedlings to germinate/spread.

Further reading

If you are interested in more detail, please visit our comprehensive profile on Blanket Flower here.

Joe Foster

Hi - I grew up outdoors in nature - hiking, fishing, hunting. In high school I got my first job at a garden center where I learned to garden and landscape. I've been growing plants from seed and designing native plant gardens for over 10 years. I hope to share some of my knowledge with you! You may have seen some of my videos I create on our YouTube channel, GrowitBuildit (more than 10 million views!). You can find my channel here: https://youtube.com/@growitbuildit Additionally I am a wood worker / DIY enthusiast. I enjoy designing/building projects (with hand tools when I can!). I hope to give you some tips and useful information!

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