I've tried and failed a couple of times to grow Gaillardia from seed, but it has been great at reseeding on it's own. I've moved and only brought one plant with me, so I'm going to have to purchase some seed somewhere and give it another try. I can't remember what I did now, since it was a couple of years ago. I do know that I tried winter sowing, as well as planting some in the spring. Nothing at all grew. I don't think I kept the soil overly wet. I just sprayed it when it was drying out on top.

Is there some special secret to growing it from seed? Thanks for any advice!

Maybe you covered the seeds. Gaillardia needs light to germinate, so sprinkle the seeds on the soil and press them slightly or cover them with 1 mm sand.

Hi Jonna!

Thanks so much for that tip. I'm sure that I covered the seeds, since what I was reading online tonight said to cover them. I can't remember what site I looked it up on when I planted them, but many sites I viewed tonight said to cover them. Obviously, that didn't work, and I never thought to try them without covering them!

I really appreciate your help! I'm going to try again tomorrow, since I have a nice sunny window for them without it being direct light. I can always put them in the greenhouse over winter, if they don't get large enough to plant outside.

yeah want to mimic what nature does... seeds fall to the ground and germinate

Allison, most seeds that I have planted say to cover them. While I am not all that successful in getting things to grow from seed, I've had really good success with some. Still, no luck at all with others. So, I'll try growing the failures again!

that's how we learn.. don't feel bad about it.. we have all done something we needed to change.. live and learn comes into play for me a lot

I've only wintersown them, with pretty good success. I've never tried them inside under lights.

My wintersown ones have always bloomed first year, starting pretty early in summer. Last year we had such horrible heat and drought, not even one bloomed. I lost a few, but 4 survived that awful weather, and are blooming now.

Karen

Karen, we had that same kind of weather last year, and then the winter was awful. I had 3 or more feet of snow on the ground for several months. Hopefully this year will be better!

So far, so good here. Only one hot day so far, and adequate rain too.

Karen

We just moved from Utah to Idaho, and I heard on the news last night that we're 2 1/2 inches down on rain. We've had a few hot days, but I need a sweatshirt today. It's really chilly out! At least I have my own well here! Even with the shortage of rain, everything is so green!