Gaillardia SpinTop® Mango

Gaillardia SpinTop® Mango: Golden Mango Orange, Flowering Flat Out

Golden-orange daisies with ruffled yellow tips pile up so heavily it looks like the plant is running a fruit stand. This blanket flower is all mango, no sticky chin. TROPICAL VACATION, BACKYARD BUDGET.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Gaillardia aristata 'Dogailspinman'
• Common Name: Blanket Flower
• Series: SpinTop®, from Dümmen Orange
• Height: 20–30 cm (8–12 in)
• Spread: 30 cm (12 in)
• Flowers: Large golden-orange daisies about 9 cm (3.5 in) across with yellow, ruffled petal tips
• Bloom Time: Early summer to early fall (June to September)
• Foliage: Semi-glossy green leaves on a compact, upright mound
• Features: Heavy flowering

Where to Plant: It's short enough for the very front of a sunny border, a rock garden or a container on a hot balcony. Plant a few together for a solid band of colour.

Companion Plants: Plant SpinTop® Mango in a sunny, dry bed with salmon poppies, rosy coneflowers and hot pink sedum. Sedum SunSparkler® 'Blue Pearl' adds blue leaves and hot pink flowers at 15 to 20 cm in August and September. Papaver 'Princess Victoria Louise' opens salmon-pink poppies at 75 to 90 cm in May and June. Echinacea SunMagic® Vintage Pink brings rosy pink coneflowers at 45 to 60 cm from June to September. Panicum 'Prairie Fire' rises behind at 120 to 150 cm with blades that turn red.

Plant Care: Plant in full sun in average to lean, well-drained soil. Sandy or gravelly ground is ideal. Rich, wet soil makes blanket flowers floppy and short-lived, and heavy clay that stays soggy in winter is the main reason they don't come back. If you garden on clay, plant on a slope, in a raised bed, or work in grit first. Water regularly the first season, then only during long dry spells. Skip the fertilizer. Deadhead spent flowers to keep new buds coming. Blanket flowers can be short-lived. Cutting the plant back by about half in late summer encourages fresh leafy growth that helps it through winter, and dividing every two or three years in spring keeps it vigorous. Leave the foliage in place over winter and tidy it up in spring.

History: SpinTop® Mango was bred by Ellen van Sambeek for Dümmen Orange in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands, from a 2016 open pollination and selected in 2017 for its golden-orange flowers. It was the first orange in the SpinTop® series and won a silver medal in the novelty category at the Dutch Plantarium trade fair in 2022.

Final Thoughts: Pop a few in sunny pots on the deck and pour yourself something cold. THE GARDEN JUST WENT ALL-INCLUSIVE.