If you are visiting Cape Lookout this time of year, you will find these cheerful red and yellow flowers everywhere, spread across the sand and dunes from the sound to the ocean side of the island.
Gaillardia (gah-LARD-ee-ah) is commonly known as blanket flower for its propensity to spread like a blanket over the landscape, and to produce brightly colored blossoms which echo the brilliant hues of Native American blankets. Some refer to this wildflower as fire wheel.
While they are native to North and South America, they are not indigenous to Core Banks. We believe a lighthouse keeper’s wife planted them in her garden many years ago, and the hardy, drought-tolerant perennial proliferated in the hot sunny landscape of the Cape.
Summer at Cape Lookout 