Gaillardia x GUSTO™ Paprika PPAF
Perennial
Height 14"
Spread 16-18"
GUSTOâ„¢ Paprika Blanket Flower ignites your garden with fiery, non-fading orange-red blooms. This compact perennial offers striking aesthetic beauty, flowering non-stop from spring to frost. Built for worry-free care, it defies heat, drought, and poor soils while resisting pests. It is the ultimate low-maintenance choice for continuous, high-impact color.
Water
Highly drought-tolerant once established but needs careful moisture management early on. Planting: Water 2–3 times weekly until rooted.Mature plants: Soak deeply only when top 2 inches of soil dry completely.Crucial: Never overwater. Good drainage prevents deadly root rot.
Fertilizer
Avoid fertilizing for better health and appearance
Pruning
Deadheading is not required as new blooms grow over and hide old, spent blooms. You can cut back by one-third, if tired, to boost fall blooms. In late winter, cut dead stems to the ground before new Spring growth starts.
Spring
Starts producing its first flush of large, daisy-like flowers. The blooms emerge as a bright, glowing warm orange with golden tips.
Summer
The compact, mounded foliage is completely covered in vibrant orange blooms. Because it is highly heat-tolerant, it thrives and continues to flower heavily during the hottest months of the year when other perennials begin to fade. A unique feature of the GUSTO™ series is that new blooms naturally open directly over the older, spent flower centers. This self-masking trait provides a continuously tidy appearance without requiring you to constantly deadhead.
Fall
The flowering period continues seamlessly until the first hard frost of autumn. In late fall, any left-over flower centers age into prominent, round seed heads. These seed heads provide structural interest in the autumn garden and serve as a valuable food source for songbirds like goldfinches.