Indian blanket

Indian blanket is the flower most Oklahomans picture when they think of summer roadsides: red petals with yellow tips around a dark, domed center. It does best in sandy, well-drained soil and full sun, and it handles heat and drought once it is up.

Most plants live a single season, but they drop plenty of seed. Leave a patch alone and it will usually come back on its own the next year.

Scatter seed in fall on bare, loose soil and press it in lightly rather than burying it. Skip rich soil and extra fertilizer, which tend to make the plants floppy. Cutting off spent flowers keeps new ones coming through the summer.

Bees and butterflies visit the flowers through the summer.

Our newsletter, Gaillardia, takes its name from this plant. Read the latest issue →

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by Katie Huskerson, Gaillardia, Summer 2026