Gallardia

Blanketflower

treeBlanketflower is a very easy to grow perennial that will eventually establish large beds of lovely daisy like flowers that are quite attractive to butterflies and honey bees. To humans too, the blooms are borne on long stalks and today can be found in many color combinations.

A packet of seeds from the store or even a dried seed head from a fellow gardener is all it takes to get your own lovely collection of gallardia started.

Prepare the bed in advance. I use the rounded type concrete tree rings as a raised bed of sorts. Then I fill it with about 20 gallons or so of my own soiless mix and water it down. Because the peat in the mix is very dry, water it several times during the day before adding the Blanketflower seeds, that way it will be nice and moist for them to begin.

Spread the seeds in the 4 foot diameter bed right onto the top of the soil. Use the shower indicator on your Garden Hose Spray nozzle. Fresh Gallardia seed can come up in 7 days. You may wait up to 14 days if you have cooler mornings and evenings. Keep the seed bed moist the entire time the seeds are unsprouted. Remember, if they germinate they need that water to form a root and grow upwards. After they are up, continue watering them on a regular basis. Thin them to about 16 inches apart after a couple of months. Wihtin three months they should be clumping size, and within the next month or so you should see flowers. Gallardia do appreciate fertilzer. Since I have it around for the brugmansia, I just give the bed a drink of tomato fertilizer about once every two weeks. They love it and seem to thrive.

Gallardia will die back after a frost, but come back in spring if you mulch the bed well before your first frost threat.

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