How To Grow And Care For Marigolds

The Marigold, a cheerful and easy plant to grow, and the first choice among those who want a bright and splendid natural display for their homes! This annual plant flowers with radiant sprays of multi-colored brass, copper and gold flowers all throughout the summer season.

Marigold flowers, come in a wide variety of happy colors. Shaped like daisies, or heads that resemble carnations standing alone or tightly packed in ball-like clusters. Shades of yellow and orange, maroon, gold, crimson, and sometimes… blooms of white or dual-colored marigold. The size of the plants vary from a demure 6-inch (Signet Marigolds) to a sizable 2 or 3 feet tall (African Marigolds).

Marigold Plant Varieties

There’s quite a number of different Marigold plant species, but the most popular varieties include:

The delicate Tagetes tenuifolia, also known as the signet marigold thrive in signets and rock gardens. It can grow up to 12 inches tall. This plant loves dry areas and is great for landscape edging purposes. Tagetes tenuifolia has edible flowers for human consumption. They also give gardeners season-long blooms of fragrant flowers and even leaves unlike other varieties with pungent odor. Tagetes tenuifolia is also easy to grow, deer & rabbit resistant, and drought tolerant.

The French Marigolds (Tagetes patula) characterized by a bushy, compact size. Don’t let that fool you; tagetes patula’s elegant, dainty, demure flowers and plants growing anywhere from 6 inches to about 2 feet tall. French marigolds require full sun and a well-drained soil. They need to be planted deeper than the bedding container and six to nine inches apart from the other French marigolds seeds.

Desert marigold known for its daisy-like flower petals reaches from a few inches up to a foot high. Although it serves as a short-lived perennial, this plant of yellow flowers produce lots of marigold seeds.

The French vanilla, also called white marigold differs from the usual yellow and orange bearing varieties of marigold plants. The size of its pure-colored flowers spans up to 3 inches across.

On the other hand, pot marigold or calendula has cheery bright yellow, gold and orange blooms. Calendula’s citrus tasting flowers is used to make marigold tea and also serve as a good ingredient for culinary recipes. You can try them in salads, sandwiches and seafood too. You can also use calendula petals to add color to rice dishes.

Finally, Tagetes erecta,  the tallest of the Marigold group of plants and sometimes called the African marigold, with plants ranging anywhere from 3 to 5 feet. African marigolds also bear the name American marigolds or Aztec marigolds. The African marigold produces blooms of larger flowers. Among other well-known varieties like the French marigolds, this Tagetes erecta is more drought tolerant, loves the full sun, and seem to like a poor soil.

Marigold Flowers excellent plants for natural pest control.

How To Care For Marigolds Flowers

The Marigold plant, the equivalent of a no-fuss, easygoing person who brings a lot of color into your life.

It blooms some bright and extremely cheery flowers throughout the summer season until the first autumn frost arrives.

Marigolds flower and thrive in all USDA plant hardiness zones. Due to their resilient nature, plant them almost anywhere and they will start growing with little to no encouragement.

For the best looking Marigold flowers, plant marigolds in places where they get plenty of heat and sunlight.

They will continue to grow even when placed near paved surfaces, as long as you don’t forget to water them.

As far as marigold care, the plant can tolerate some partial shade, but only if that particular area gets a fair share of sunshine.

Plant marigold flowers in flower beds along with the other bright-hued perennials and annual plants.

Growing them in containers the marigold will grow in regular soil and will actually thrive in poor soil conditions!

Don’t water them too much, or apply too much fertilizer, as plants will grow too many leaves instead of the beautiful flowers.

How And When To Plant Marigold Seeds

Plant marigold seeds in your garden when weather is warm or sow seed into pots approximately 4 to 6 weeks before the last spring frost arrives.

Cover marigold seeds with ¼ inch of soil. Marigold seeds germinate easily but watch out for damping off issues as they grow. Separate marigold seedlings when they reach about 2 inches.

When caring for marigolds remember, they do not demand a special soil, but many gardeners recommend using a potting mix when putting their plants in containers.

When planting marigolds, use a loose soil, whether in the gardens or containers.

When planting tall marigolds space them about 2 feet apart, while smaller varieties space them approximately 1 foot apart.

Deadheading Marigolds

Marigold plants do not necessarily require intensive pruning, but deadheading actually aids plants in the blooming and suppresses the seeding process.

When deadheading, inspect plants for any dead flowers, and snip them off via your fingertips. Before you know it, healthy marigold flowers will grow and take its place!

Marigold Pest Control

The natural scent of the Marigold plant works very effectively, wards off various insects and some animals from your garden.

It also produces a substance known as alpha-terthienyl which helps in getting rid of root-knot nematodes. It staves off harmful microscopic nematodes and other pests for a good number of years.

More specifically, you can protect your precious other plants from the deer by adding the marigolds into the mix.

However, marigolds don’t find themselves entirely immune to pests though; white & green aphids and sap-sucking spider mites sometimes take a liking to the marigold plant.

A quick spray of water combined with an insecticidal soap or neem pesticide spray oil will usually solve the infestation issue.

Apply once per week until the pests are gone. Slugs may also find your Marigolds attractive during the wet season, but there’s nothing a bit of slug repellent options won’t fix!

Marigold Plant Care: Question & Answers

Question: Some gardeners suggest that marigolds will keep aphids away from other plants. Is this true? HZ, Illinois

Answer: If the weather is favorable for aphids I’m not sure anything except constant spraying will repel them.

For example, pyrethrum spray made from flowers of the chrysanthemum family is an effective control for aphids.

Yet aphids attack the chrysanthemum plants. A bench of marigold plants in the greenhouse has no effect as a deterrent to aphids on plants in adjoining benches.