A Gardener’s Miscellany

This week it’s:

Paradoxical marigolds

We look at this special top-selling bedding plant

GARDEN marigolds are a paradox. Neither the French nor the African marigold comes from the countries they’re named after – the tagetes genus is essentially from Central and Southern America! Another paradoxical feature is that marigolds are among the top-selling bedding types, yet people claim to dislike them more than any other type! Colour is one factor in this, as most varieties are marked by a fierceness of orange. On the plus side, marigolds are arguably the easiest of summer flowers: they tolerate dryness, they flower profusely, there are few problems (apart from slugs on young plants) and they last a long time. Let’s take a closer look.