How To Grow Colorful Blanket Flowers From One Plant Forever

When you've found a beautiful, drought-tolerant flowering perennial, it's natural to want more of them. With varieties in gorgeous shades and combinations of reds, yellows, and oranges, blanket flower (Gaillardia) is such a plant, and it's pollinator friendly, too. Under ideal growing conditions, blanket flowers will bloom from late spring to late fall, and they are fire resistant. Blanket flowers grow nicely in containers, and container planting may help them survive the winter, especially if you have heavy or clay soil.

While you can easily grow the long-blooming blanket flower from seed, it's satisfying to know that you can also propagate them through stem cuttings since it's a faster process and the cuttings are true to type. Blanket flower tends not to live beyond a couple years, but as long as you have one plant, it's easy to replenish your supply.

June is a good time to take cuttings from healthy, mature blanket flower plants. Cut off a 3- to 4-inch stem for each plant you want to propagate, and detach the lower leaves. Do wear gloves because blanket flower contains chemicals that can cause contact dermatitis. Take the cut end and dip it in rooting hormone. Prepare a pot with moist, well-drained soil or perlite and place the rooted cutting in it. Place this in a warm area where it will get light, but not in direct sunlight, and mist it regularly with water. The roots will develop in three to four weeks, after which you can transplant the blanket flower outside.

Once it's time for transplanting the rooted cuttings of this vibrant spring flower that can withstand your local deer, find a spot with sandy, well-draining soil in full sun. Alternatively, prepare a pot. The transplants will grow rapidly. Twice-monthly summer waterings can promote plentiful blooms over a long period. Blanket flowers are among the perennials you should deadhead for blooms that keep coming. This deadheading is important as it should also prolong the life of the plants because they'll put their energy into growing new blooms rather than producing seeds.

You can also attain more plants by dividing blanket flower in spring, summer, or early fall. The plants' tight crowns should be divided so the result is rooted, individual shoots.