Gaillardia SpinTop® Red

Gaillardia SpinTop® Red: Low, Tidy and Seriously Red

Short, red and absolutely allergic to wilting. This blanket flower laughs at heat waves, shrugs at dry spells and keeps pumping out warm red daisies like it's got a quota to hit. FULL SUN? IT CALLS THAT A SPA DAY.

Plant Characteristics:

• Botanical Name: Gaillardia aristata
• Common Name: Blanket Flower
• Series: SpinTop®, from Dümmen Orange, also sold by Proven Winners®
• Height: 20–25 cm (8–10 in)
• Spread: 30 cm (12 in)
• Flowers: Large, warm red daisies with a dark centre, several per branching stem
• Bloom Time: Early summer to early fall (June to September)
• Foliage: Bright green, in a compact mound
• Features: Compact, heat tolerant, good for cutting

Where to Plant: Put it where you want a low line of red: the edge of a sunny bed, a rock garden, or a container. The flowers cut well for small summer bouquets, and birds pick over the seed heads left in late season.

Companion Plants: Use SpinTop® Red in a sunny, dry bed with a yellow peony, double gold daisies and purple hollyhocks. Paeonia 'Border Charm' opens yellow, red-flared peonies at 45 to 60 cm in May and June. Rudbeckia Solar Sisters™ adds double yellow and orange blooms at 45 to 60 cm from June to October. Alcea 'Purple Rain' rises at the back to 175 to 180 cm with deep purple hollyhocks from June to August. Schizachyrium Prairie Winds® 'Brush Strokes' grows to 80 to 90 cm in powder blue.

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® Red belongs to a series Dümmen Orange introduced in 2017, bred in the Netherlands for compact plants that flower in their first year. Its parent species, Gaillardia aristata, is native to the prairies and dry grasslands of western North America.

Final Thoughts: Snip a few for the kitchen table and watch it bloom right back out of spite. The deer won't touch it. THE HOSE CAN STAY COILED.