Marigold - Annual Beauty For Your Flower Garden © 2006

Marigold
Tagetes sp.

Marigolds are warm weather annuals native to the North and South American continent. Generally the area of northern Mexico to Argentina is their native range. The marigold is strongly scented and not everyone likes the smell. This annual flower is very floriferous, adaptable to a wide range of soil types, resistant to pests. The marigold is one of the best planting choices for the home flower garden. It requires full sun.

There are about thirty species in the genus. The three main species are outlined below. Marigolds all bloom fairly early after planting out and maintain flowering until killed by frost in the fall. Regular deadheading will encourage more blooms. Named after Tages, and Etruscan deity, this marigold was introduced in Europe in 1573.

Tagetes erecta
This is the so called African Marigold which isn’t from Africa at all. These types get fairly tall, eighteen to thirty-six inches. The flowers are large too, usually two to six inches in diameter. The colors are mostly yellows and oranges. There are also whites and mahogany-red colors. This marigold was introduced into Europe in 1596.

Tagetes patula
This is the one called the French Marigold. It is generally smaller than the African and has smaller flowers. Height ranges from about six inches to around eighteen inches, depending upon the cultivar. The color range is much greater in the French class and the plants are much more compact, lending them better suited for smaller gardens.

Tagetes tenuifolia
These are called both the Dwarf Marigold and Signet Marigold. The height of these annual flowers is up to twelve inches. These are a bit more frost hardy than the other types, the flowers are smaller. Flower colors mostly in the yellow or orange spectrum.

Marigolds are easy to grow. The seed is fairly large and germination is quick - usually seven to ten days at 65 - 80 degrees farenheit. The seed can be direct seeded, or plant six to eight weeks before the last frost in a greenhouse, hotbed, or sunny window in your home.

Popular varieties:

African types:

Inca
Plants in this series get about twelve to fourteen inches tall. The flowers are yellow and orange and are three and a half inches in diameter.

Jubilee
This marigold gets twenty-four inches tall. There are three colors - yellow, light orange and pure gold.

French Types

Boy o’ Boy
The plants of this variety grow about ten to twelve inches tall. The colors of the series are bright yellow, gold, orange and some orange/red, gold red bicolors.

Aurora
Two and a half inch doubled flowers in a mix of gold, light yellow, yellow fire. Yellow fire is a bicolor of yellow and red. There is another color called Fire which is an orange/red bicolor. Aurora grows ten to twelve inches tall.

Marigolds are one of the most carefree and adaptable of the annual flowers you can grow in your garden.

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