I grew up in Texas, and it's a sure sign to me that summer is coming when I see gaillardia, or what is commonly called "blanket flower," covering the prairies and pastures of Texas.

This flower, along with bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush, are ingrained into all Texans as part of the roadside tapestry of our state. But why, oh why, won't all those lovely new gaillardia varieties in the plant catalogs do well in our gardens?

I have been truly disappointed when it comes to commercially available varieties of gaillardia. Dozens of cultivars exist with double or single flowers in every shade of red, yellow, or orange imaginable, but every one I've tested has flowered only for a very short period of time or immediately died from powdery mildew.

How could our roadside wildflower outperform these supposedly "improved" cultivars? I was about to write the whole genus off as a failure in Texas gardens when I discovered some information that explained what the problem might be.