Plant Sale this Saturday -- June 18th, 10am - 2pm

From Barbara ... our Nursery Coordinator...

Gaillardia

This perennial commonly known as Blanket Flower is another plant that epitomizes summer color. Those colors may carry you into fall as it blooms for an especially long time--starts in June and sometimes goes all the way until the first frost. Native to the central and western U.S., it likes low to moderate water and is drought tolerant when established. Give Blanket Flowers a sunny location. Many of the Blanket Flowers that are familiar to folks have multi-colored blooms in shades of red, orange, yellow and gold and can seem garish in some garden locations. At Markham, we have two cultivars that show more restraint but will still add a lot of color to the summer garden. 
 

Gaillardia 'Oranges and Lemons'

Picked as one of Garden Design's "Way Hot 100" plants in 2006, this Blanket Flower has gorgeous blooms in pale orange tones accented with soft yellow trim. It grows almost 2 feet tall and about 1 � feet wide. The loads of blooms are 4-6" wide. Ours come in 1 gallon containers, are priced at $6, and are already in bloom.

Gaillardia 'Mesa Yellow'

An award winning Gaillardia (American Award Selection and Fleuroselect Gold Medal for 2010 ), this Blanket Flower grows a bit smaller ( 20-22 inches tall with 3 inch blossoms). The Fleuroselect web site (http://www.fleuroselect.com/) states that " 'Mesa Yellow' has a uniform, regular, even appearance. The variety particularly impressed the Fleuroselect judges with its beauty and abundance of perfect, novel, yellow flowers. Add an excellent garden performance and a long flowering season and 'Mesa Yellow' is a truly worthy winner." At Markham, our 'Yellow Mesa' come in 4" deep pots and are priced at $4. They are not yet flowering but have had much vigorous growth recently.      _________________________________________________________________________