Full sun, adequately draining soil that's allowed to get nearly dry at root level between waterings and not much in the way of fertilizer should promote good results, at least during a single season (Gaillardias are notoriously short-lived perennials that even in good conditions may not last more than 2-3 years, requiring new plants to be started from seed at frequent intervals).

I would pay particular attention to soil moisture down at the root level as a key factor. If it's soggy there, then plants are liable to croak even if the soil surface is dry.

have you ever perked your soil ...

drainage is key ... but with the bad clay ... you have none ... and adding water retaining peat does not help ... and sand plus clay.. can make cement ....

never amend a planting hole ... amend the whole bed.. or develop beds on top of BAD clay ...

most clay is NOT bad ...

see link ... the part about dealing with clay soil ...

perk test: dig a hole.. fill with water.. and time how long it takes to go away ...

my sand... minutes for 3 gals ... bad clay ... add some minnows.. .lol .. anything in between ... is workable ... report back ...

ken

ps: it might help to know.. which G attract you .. its possible.. that if you are attracted to the fooest of foo ... that might be part of the problem ....

BTW: what does thrive in your garden ...???

Here is a link that might be useful: link

It took me several years of actively trying to get rid of it before it was gone from my garden. Most if went to another garden that couldn't keep it alive. The big difference between the two? pH.

So scratch the moss, add in some lime, and see what happens.

I've used gaillardia, for years, gardening on upgraded heavy clay with slightly alkaline soil.

As above, gaillardia is usually not very long-lived, but location seems to be everything. Sun and good drainage (as said above) seem key.

It's odd, that like coreopsis, gaillardia often seems to survive (through reseeding) on neglect (less watering, less subsequent soil upgrading). Maybe that again fits with some of what was said above.

'Arizona Apricot' (last June 29), two years after planting.

Ken The "fooest of the foo" made me burst out laughing. I'm keeping that description for later use but that just might be the problem.

I grow native annual Gaillardia pulchella only, I don't care for the squatty looking tight-bouquets-with-the-bigger-flower hybrids like they sell at nursery's or the shorter bloom period they have.

G. pulchella blooms like crazy from spring to fall like a plant on bloom steroids and by the end of the season I like looser habit and the mix of hazy seed balls + flowers in summer and fall, by fall the seed balls really glow in late afternoon sun. Sometimes I get solid yellow and sometimes solid red. This is an easy forgiving plant and you would probably do well with it as long as your soil is reasonably well drained. It comes up easily from seed and if you want to prevent lots of volunteers just pull out the whole plant at the end of the season, those seed balls stay on the plant for the most part (part of the charm actually)

Here's a couple of pics shot in June. I've got them scattered about because they are so prolific with the blooms but I actually like the looks of them better come September. The top picture is one of the solid red ones. Plants are about 2ft & rounded. They also attract fireflies. New plants come up in fall and winter over, ready to take off early spring.

The most likely problems is that it is being over watered. Gallardia thrive when they are in sunny, dry spots. As someone else mentioned, do not amend the soil around just one plant, it will only cause harm by creating a weird pocket in the soil that is unlike anything else around it. It looks like you are in Illinois, where our clay soil if formed on limestone bedrock. Because of that, you definitely should not be adding lime to your soil in this area. Again, as someone else mentioned, even under the best of circumstances, Gallardia seldom last more than a few seasons before they peter out.

As per Ken and kirimarie.

Expanding on a "weird pocket --- ":
(1) sump effect
(2) with our type of climate, different rates of freezing and
thawing.

"Gaillardias are notoriously short-lived perennials"
I would like to see them, at least, live thru the summer.
All my beds are dug 2 spades deep and amended. Besides Spagh, what else should I have amended my clay with? Years ago, my "mentor" told me to add sand. Turned out 2B a poor idea for me. He gave me an article about an arboretum that took out all the soil several feet down and replaced with sand B4 planting. Interesting.

When I amend for individual plants, I dig a very large hole/area. Last summer, I planted them in an area at the top of a hill that has been filled in with small rock averaging around 1" diameter. Thot that would give it enuf drainage. Was also an area that I water some b/c not much lives there if I don't.

"what does thrive in your garden ...???"
Almost everything xcept: Russian sage, azaleas, lupines, delphiniums, penstemon, campanula carpatica. Baptisia is iffy. I have to add lime to grow the couple perovskias and azaleas that I have. So I'm thinking the lime suggestion is worth a try. Altho, according to pH tables, most of these are supposed to enjoy nearly any pH. I get confused by alkaline and acidic. But, I think, spagh is on the acidic side so it seems reasonable that I might need to add some lime. So, should I top-dress with a little agricultural lime in all my beds?

Also will plant my next gaillardias where I don't water or will ignore.
Ok, I don't get it - "fooest of the foo" - what does that mean? Guess I'm not a hip g'ma ;-)

While we are at it, any suggestions with lupines, delphiniums, penstemon, campanula carpatica, Baptisia?

Thanx to all of you.
I'm anxious to get back outside and work in my gardens. I'm so anxious to be outside that I even shoveled both my decks - mixture of snow and leaves that had blown in last fall. And I have 14 flats of seeds planted so far. Can't stand not to have my hands dirty. (grin)

Best wishes, Barbara

BTW, TXranger - thanx for the photos. I admire your 'hell strip.' Are the blue flowers a short version of Russian sage or are your gaillardia that tall?

Its a perspective distortion. The Russian Sage is two times taller than the gaillardia. Maybe almost three times taller, definitely a lot wider...Its a very old and large plant. I do like them together, they are both easy, water wise and good looking all season which is good because I really hate dragging the hose down there over other plants. I originally got my first Gaillardia pulchella seeds as a gift from Plants of the SW one year with an order I'd made. I'd always snubbed gaillardias because I never liked the ones I'd bought at nurseries once they'd finished blooming but after planting these native kind one year I will never be without them now, they simply never stop blooming. I bag up the seeds in grocery bags in fall and disperse them out in the wild and send lots to a friend who has a large piece of land where she can naturalize them.

Barbara, I don't think well composted manure was mentioned above.

Adding this to clay soil promotes (1) the formation of soil aggregates and (2) the presence of earthworms and soil micro-organisms.

Both of those increase the permeability of the soil to water and oxygen.

Compost trump spagnum any day. Using sand and gravel and compost to break up clay is all about the amount. One has to use WAY more than what one thinks is right. I know someone here who grows a grand hellish hell strip that started out with gumbo and used sand and gravel to grow cactus and wild things. It is all about the amount and building things up. I stay away from peat and sphagnum. It becomes hydrophobic as it ages and dries which is a real problem where I am.

I have heard of people using 6" of an aged shredded hardwood mulch and turning it into clay and then letting it rot for a year. They say that that makes structure in the soil and the bugs carry it further. When I lived on red river bank clay , I used compost every time I I touched the dirt. True. Humus breaks down much faster in the heat than it does up north. One can see the raised beds shrink lots every year.

Sphagnum peat moss is certainly hydrophobic if it is not completely broken up when initially used.

It would seem to make sense that peat moss should be added to sandy soils in the interests of water retention, not to clay ones.

I rely on compost too, but it needs to be weed-free. No worry with seaweed or mushroom compost.

I love this photo of Ladybird Johnson sitting among a mass of gaillardia growing wild. Gaillardia is a wildflower and it really should need no special molly-coddling, just good drainage.

"attracted to the fooest of the foo ---".

I took that as a witty way of referring to the idea that the further plants are bred away from the ancestral form the weaker they may prove to be. A very good point.

In my (and I'm sure many others' ) experience, (environmentally appropriate) species or naturally occurring varieties of those species tend to aggressively look after themselves in a perennial garden (as expected). I'd say they tend to be the rampant seeders and runners that don't fit into my own personal style of perennial gardening.

Tr10 says that a highly horticulturally selected cultivar "hardly resemble itself ---". She means it hardly resembled the wild type, species or variety, ancestral to it.

Should it?

SB, Hey, thanks for explaining what I meant. I didn't intend to start a discussion about the defense of cultivars in other peoples gardens. If you like em, plant em.

I want to clarify that the G. pulchella do not act like rampant plants with runners you are describing. If the OP wants to prevent seeding, they can pull them out at the end of the season. Yes, they do take care of themselves, are undemanding, easy to grow and bloom like crazy. Its a suggestion of something different to try out to see if they work better.

By the way, I also grow native rayless gaillardia (Gaillardia suavis). They are also called 'perfume balls' for obvious reasons. I love the curvy tall stems topped by fragrant balls, the dainty clump of low growing leaves and that they really attract butterflies.

I think we all took Kens remark as a witty one, it made me laugh.

Photo from the Lady Bird Johnson Native Plant Database:

Thanks for the pics and description of G. pulchella! I ordered a bunch of seed from Everwilde at a great price (op, check that site out!). I am super-excited. Do yours live a season or two after the first season of blooming? It is nice to know the seed balls stay intact. I want some to reseed, but I have a weird joy of collecting seeds and sorting them. Lol Or, maybe that will not sound weird to people here. :)

Will, TR10.

Agree with you.
Each to their own taste!

carolina, I only just planted the perfume balls (I love that name) last spring. I found a cluster of them growing in a field doomed for development and rescued some plants. I dug them out, took them home and planted them, most of them survived. I will see this spring how they do.

Which did you order? The G. pulchella or the G. suavis? I'm confused.

The perfume balls don't stay intact on the G. suavis, they shatter pretty fast and mainly bloom in spring. Its a perennial.

The seed balls on the G. pulchella don't shatter easily at all and they stay on the plants all summer. It hurts your hand to try to beak them up because they are stickery, I know, I've tried, the balls are very tight and hard to break apart. I just bag them up whole but it does kind of feels good to take the seeds out to scatter along the sides of the road or other ugly weedy spots needing a bit of color and beautifying. These are strictly annuals and thats why they bloom so heavily.

I ordered the pulchella. Thanks for the extra info!

Op, have you tried wintersowing galliardia? Many wintersown plants are tougher, and galliardia seems to wintersow easily.

I never have WS'd them because a few seeds always manage to drop below the plants, they germinate in fall and get pretty good sized with a long healthy root, then they winter over as ever-green rosettes and are up & blooming by late April or early May. In a way, its like having perennial plants. I just thin out any I don't want, they pull very easily. Most of the hardy annuals will do that so you will have them as long as you let them grow. I've got several naturalized annual natives from central plains and desert SW, these pretty much stay in check and insures flowers from early spring to fall.

My galliardias are sprouting now.The winter moisture has softened the balls of seed and they are spouting from the ball. Maybe it is a defense to keep the moisturein the ball and that helps the germination. More rain tomorrow. On dry winters we often miss the galliardias the next spring. It will be a good year this year.

wantanamara, lookie at this one. G. pinnatifidida. Western Native Seed carries it for $3.00/pack. I think we need it. Love that 'bobbed warr" in the picture, adds a nice western touch don't ya think?

I found another type Gaillardia spathulata, solid yellow one.

Gaillardia spathulata. There is no seed source I can find on this one. Its an interesting one. I like the fluffy seed heads.

Those are interesting....TxR

Geez TR10 - yall are making me homesick with that bobbed warr. :)

Thanks Barbara and all for this entertaining thread, and good info. I'm another who has always liked gaillardia, but felt like I must be doing something wrong because it never lived past a couple of years. Come to find out that might not have been so unusual.

Anyways, I received some seed in one of the trades this fall, and am looking forward to trying again this year. This time, I will make sure to gather seed to resow.

BTW, Barbara - you're not the only one anxious to be out gardening. I've been walking through the snow in my garden area, making 'paths' to redefine where I'm going to change the beds. Sort of a visual preview. Only a couple more months to go before I can start digging...:)

- Alex

I have rolls of antique Bob warr that I cut out of the brush.

I bought a packet called 'Water-Wise Mix' wildflower seeds last winter that had Gaillardia aristata as part of the mix. Its the perennial kind but I was disappointed in it. It blooms much later and for very short period unlike the annual G. pulchella. I ended up pulling them since I have lack of space and I was adding prairie grasses in that area. Most cultivars are a cross between the two so none of them are going to be long lived perennials, 1 year, 2 years or really stretching it to three at most. I'd much rather grow the annual type.

The best thing that came out of that seed mix was Moss Verbena (V. tenuisecta). It blooms a very long LONG time. Its also evergreen. The plants should really look nice this year with even more blooms.

I'd love having some bobbed warr. I'd make a yard art piece out of it.

Quotes from 'Native Texas Plants' by Sally Wasowski on growing Gaillardia pulcella:

"Whatever the opposite of a green thumb is--if you have it, Indian Blanket is for you. Its one of the easiest wildflowers to begin with in a meadow."

"In rich fertile clay soil with water, Indian Blanket will get rank and sprawl out three or four feet in every direction. In poorer soils or with better drainage it can be a joy from April to frost. If you collect your own seed, collect it carefully. Some Indian Blankets get only six inches tall and make broad, neat mounds. Others make colorful one-foot balls, although most are ungainly."

The seed I got originally from Plants of the SW make neat plants that are about 2ft by 2ft. I grow them in lean soil and they take our hot dry summers without a problem.

OK, here's a question for you, Texas: the gaillardia I got in my trade this fall is a garden-gathered seed, offspring of Gaillardia 'Goblin', which I see from googling is G. grandiflora. I'm not much concerned about it's not coming true from seed, but it's not going to be sterile as far as you know, is it? Haven't tried to pre-germinate it to test it, since I don't have a whole bunch to spare.

Info says it either doesn't set seed or it doesn't come true from seed. If it does have seeds, they will look like this. If its just chaff, toss it. Once I got three packets of blanket flower chaff in a trade, you never can tell about people. If you want a native type you can probably pick up seed at a local nursery or from a Home Depot/Lowes seed rack, there are also some fancier varieties available from different seed companies. Most places now carry several of the more common types of native wildflowers.

This post was edited by TexasRanger10 on Wed, Jan 21, 15 at 16:35

Ah, heck. I was afraid you were going to say that. I was going to go check the seeds right now (haven't seen them yet because I haven't opened the little packet they sent them in), but there's a cat lying in front of my seed drawers, and I didn't want to wake him. Believe me, when they're asleep, it's best to let sleeping cats lie. :)

- Alex

I just checked the gaillardia seeds, and took a look at the others I got at the same time. The echinaceas are some of the foos (heh heh) that I've particularly admired, but have never extended my budget to include: pink meteor, secret affair, harvest moon - but all gathered seed from the named plants, so they won't come true, but might still be interesting. They look like they're OK, but won't know till I pre-germinate. The gaillardia seeds did have alot of chaff mixed in, but the seeds themselves might be plump enough to be viable. Once again, I won't know for sure till I pre-germinate. Quick research says gaillardia doesn't need chilling like some others - this jive with your experience?

- Alex

The gaillardia seeds are easy, the seeds that drop come up under the plants when the temperature cools down here in late summer and fall then they spend winter as a green rosette. I've never tried them in pots, I just direct sowed the pack when I first planted them, sort of scratched the top of the soil and scattered them in a spot. A friend of mine scattered some in fall and she has a lot of them up. Since you only have a few, you might just plant them in a pot or do the winter sowing thing and set it outside or you could direct sow them where you want them and mark the spot. Don't bury them, the instructions says to barely cover. They have a tap root and plants like that usually do better direct sowed in my experience.

Echinacea does best with cold stratification from what I've read. I don't grow them so someone else would be better on any advice or say different.

Gaillardia x grandiflora is a hybrid of G. aristata and the annual G. pulchella, that explains why they are usually short lived.
I have grown G. Burgundy, Goblin & Monarch Strain from seed. They germinate uncovered at 70 degrees F. They grow quickly and MAY produce flowers in their first year.
There is the variety 'Baby Cole' which must be vegetatively propagated (cuttings)
All others can be grown from seed or cuttings and will come true. (because so many new varieties are introduced you would need to check those)
You may see these listed as G. aristata or G. grandiflora
Edited to add- I am a slow typer Tex. I think I was still typing when you posted

This post was edited by Peren.all on Thu, Jan 22, 15 at 15:05

Thanks, folks. I'm probably going to winter sow half of both the echinacea and the gaillardia. The other halves I'll sow under lights. Guess I'll give the ech some refrigerator time first.

Hi Barbara,
I'm in IL as well - far NW Chicago suburbs. Last year I planted a bunch of Arizona Sun from seed - probably too many! Assuming they come back this year you are welcome to some if you are close to me! Also, if you are looking for good compost I really like the Organimix from Midwest Organics. Check the link for places that sell it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Organimix