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Lance Leaf Blanket Flower

Gaillardia aestivalis (gay-LAR-dee-uh eh-stih-VAL-is)

Family: Asteraceae Native Herbaceous (1-3 ft)

Lanceleaf blanket flower is a perennial flower in the Asteraceae (daisy) family native to North Carolina. This perennial is easy to grow but fairly short-lived. Plant in full sun and regular, well-drained soil. Once established, it will also tolerate drought and dry soil. The showy yellow flowers appear from late spring into the fall and are one of the best late-season flowers that attract butterflies. It propagates quickly through its wind dispersed seeds so it will self-seed in the garden. With showy compound yellow flowers that reach up to 3 inches in diameter, this erect perennial will grow quickly in upright clumps up to 1 foot wide and 18 inches tall. Use this native plant in a wildflower garden, the front of a perennial border, in a pollinator garden, cottage, or rock garden, and to tuck into small spaces where it can add bright dots of yellow blooms all growing season. Insects, Diseases, and Other Plant Problems: No serious insect or disease problems, though root rot can occur in poorly drained soils. More information on Gaillardia .

Source: NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox ↗ NC State Extension Gardener Plant Toolbox, 55 attributes.

How it fits the guild

Guild layer 4 - Herbaceous (1-3 ft)
See companions & conflicts ↓

Companions & Conflicts

Curated pairwise relationships between this plant and others in the library — who feeds whom, who competes, who confuses the pests. Green reads as a good pairing, red as one to avoid.

No curated interactions recorded for this species yet.

Also noted by NC State

Related species the NC State Plant Toolbox flags for this plant — look-alikes to tell apart, and plants that play a similar role in a planting. Ones we carry in the library are linked.

Often confused with Gaillardia pulchella

Full plant profile

Growing Conditions
Plant type
Native Plant; Perennial; Wildflower
Life cycle
Annual; Perennial
USDA zones
8a, 8b, 9a, 9b, 10a, 10b
Light
Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day)
Soil texture
Loam (Silt); Shallow Rocky
Soil drainage
Good Drainage | Occasionally Dry
Available space
12 inches-3 feet
NC region
Coastal
Mature size
Height: 1 ft. 0 in. - 1 ft. 6 in. | Width: 0 ft. 8 in. - 1 ft. 0 in.
Maintenance
Low
Canopy layer
4 - Herbaceous (1-3 ft)
Form & Appearance
Habit / form
Clumping; Erect
Leaf color
Gray/Silver; Green
Leaf type
Simple
Leaf arrangement
Alternate
Leaf shape
Elliptical; Lanceolate; Linear; Spatulate
Leaf margin
Entire; Serrate
Leaf feel
Rough
Leaf size
1-3 inches long
Hairs present
Yes
Leaf detail
Rosett of basal leaves. Lance, to elliptical, linear or spatulate shaped 2-4 inch long gray-green leaves with hairs on both sides. Margins entire or have a few teeth, larger leaves are lower on the stem.
Flower color
Brown/Copper; Gold/Yellow; Orange; Red/Burgundy
Flower value
Good Cut; Long Bloom Season; Showy
Flower form
Head
Flower shape
Radial
Flower size
1-3 inches
Flower detail
Yellow on the top orange brown underneath pinwheel ray flowers with 3 deeply cut lobed petals around a red-brown central cone of disk florets.
Bloom time
Fall; Spring; Summer
Fruit type
Achene
Fruit size
< 1 inch long, < 1 inch wide
Fruit detail
Achenes 1/16" with tufts of white hairs, wind-dispersed
Stem color
Green; Purple/Lavender
Stem detail
Erect
Wildlife & Ecology
Native status
Native
Origin
Southern and central U.S.A
Distribution
AL, AR, FL, GA, IL, KS, LA, MO, MS, NC, OK, SC, TX
Attracts
Butterflies; Pollinators
Food & Medicine
Harvest time
Fall; Summer
Fruit type
Achene
Landscape Use
Landscape location
Meadow; Naturalized Area
Landscape theme
Cottage Garden; Drought Tolerant Garden; Native Garden; Pollinator Garden; Rock Garden
Design feature
Border
Garden tags
#showy flowers #drought tolerant #pollinator plant #native garden #flowers late spring #native perennial #yellow flowers #NC Native Pollinator Plant #fall flowers #summer flowers #NC native #rock garden #butterfly friendly #stormwater demo garden orange co #cutting garden #long bloom time #red flowers #wind dispersed seeds #flowers early summer #dry soils tolerant #flowers mid-summer #flowers early fall #flowers late summer #wet soils intolerant #gray-green leaves #cottage garden #wildlife friendly #wildflower #poor soil tolerant
Problems & Resistance
Resistant to
Drought; Dry Soil; Poor Soil
Propagation
Seed

Planted at Hunnicutt

Nobody’s planted this one yet.