If there were ever a flowering plant that could challenge the sunflower at cheering you up - Gaillardias would be it. These small clumping plants send out innumerable single stemmed flowers that are so bright they would cheer up any garden.

Gaillardia's are a short-lived perenial that will self-seed at the drop of a hat. They can become quite a nuisance in a formalised setting but will thrive in a cottage garden where they need to compete with other plants to survive. The clumps of dark green foliage will grow to no more than 30cm (12 inches) while the flowers will shoot up to a height of about 80cm (31 inches).

They flower prolifically through summer and early autumn (fall) and their seed heads look great perched next to the flowers.

These were introduced to us by a friend who gave us some of the self-sown plants out of her garden. When we moved we transplated a couple of our own self-sown plants into our new garden and they haven't looked back since.