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I heard Gaillardia is very easy to grow. I have 2 plants and they are struggling. I have tried to harden them off but they really get beat up in the wind. I started cutting off some of the leaves on the bottom of the plants that were dropping and I think dying. This seemed to perk the plants up a bit.
Gaillardias are easy to grow if they like the location. I had 'Goblin' and 'Portola' a few feet from each other last year. 'Portola' was fine and 'Goblin' struggled. Another 'Goblin' elsewhere in the yard was perfectly happy. You may want to try moving one or both, especially if this is the second year of sad plants. Or, if the soil needs improving, dig it up, enlarge the planting hole, and add a lot of organic matter. The larger gaillardias have a tendency to flop, so you may want to cut it back some if it is tall, and that would encourage new growth, too. They are drought-tolerant once established, but if it is a new plant, has it been kept watered? Or has it been kept overwatered? If you recently got the plant from a nursery, it does take a while for it to adjust to weather outside of perfect greenhouse conditions; stem cells develop differently for one thing. Even if they are just new to the location, they could be adjusting. Again, sometimes cutting back a newly transplanted plant helps. This weather has been tough on a lot of plants, so it may just take time. Hope some of this helps!
