location always helps.. could this really be blooming in CO????

ken

better pix at this link .. ken

http://forums2.gardenweb.com/discussions/4576023/plant-id-please

It might be in the Gaillardia Family but I have blanket flowers and they are different though the coloring and leaves are similar.

PS where is the reply button you mentioned?

The reply button is this space dory. It does look like a Gaillardia but I have not found a foliage match yet.

The foliage is somewhat serrated before the plant starts growing and then the leaves change and become elongated.

A lot of South African aster family flowers look a lot like yours.

There is definitely a similarity @jaybirdyj!

I believe it's a species of arctotis,but I don't know which one.There are at least 68 species in that family.They thrive in hot, arid climates, and cover the south African deserts with bloom after spring rains.Some have flowers resembling osteospermums and others have blooms resembling gaillardias.So closely looking like a gaillardia I can't be 100 percent certain it's not one.

Do the flowers close at night?

No I don't think they close at night.

I looked at A lot of images of Arctotis and found a few that really resemble my flower. It seems to me that the gaillardia seem to bleed from The center into the petals which mine does not. They even sort of remind me of a Gerbera Daisy. In any event, they are pretty and cheerful and I love them in the garden :-) thanks everyone for all your help

The flower buds are very characteristic of Gaillardia.

Arctotis flowers should fold up at night.

I was thinking perhaps some kind of rudebeckia hirta- some have reddish orange centers… Or even something in the small sunflower family although leaves don't match. Again, it somewhat resembles galljardia but the Stems on my plant are not flimsy - much sturdier and upright

I was thinking that the o.p. was in northern Isreal,so a gaillardia growing there would grow and look different.But the aster family has a lot of species that look so alike, it's hard to distinguish.Obviously the gaillardia s and arctotis are very closely related.So now we just need to know if the flowers close up at night?

I will definitely check that out this evening although I am pretty sure that they don't

Compare Gaillardia

To my mystery plant, seen