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Gaillardia
(Gaillardia pulchella)
Often called Indian Blanket
Gaillardia are a native plant in more southern and western areas of our country but this one is a fancy improved version. Plant breeders have taken the jolly native plant and selected for larger and more boldly marked flowers.
You can now buy gaillardia that are fairly tall like ours or much shorter, that are colored anywhere between dark red to a crimson and white combination. The bright orange and yelow combination is what the plant wants to be, more or less.
It likes the sun and well drained soil.
Our garden should make it happy if no one rides their bike over it.
This is one ratty flower! Something snacked on it!
Study Pointers:
- The center of flowers like the gaillardia are actually made up of many tiny flowers! Only the outside ring of flowers has a
petal you can see though. They do the job of attracting insects to fertilize all the tiny flowers as they mature in the center. Look closely at a center and you can easily see which flower is blooming, which has done blooming and which is still small and tight closed. The flowers mature from the outside of the center.
- Can you find any other flowers that are like the gaillardia with all those many tiny flowers in the center? The garden at school does have more but it depends on what time of year it is.
- Do you think a sunflower is related to the gaillardia?
- For more pictures of this type of flower arrangement go to the Black-eyed Susan page.
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