{"id":3283,"date":"2021-01-11T05:52:55","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T13:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/?p=3283"},"modified":"2021-01-11T05:52:55","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T13:52:55","slug":"pot-marigold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/pot-marigold\/","title":{"rendered":"Pot Marigold"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Calendula\"<\/a>The garden magazines are touting new plants right now, which is standard for January editions.\u00a0 In the midst of all that New Year\u2019s newness, I was pleased to see a garden pundit extol the virtues of something old-fashioned\u2014the use of annuals in garden beds and borders.\u00a0 Jimmy Turner, Executive Director of the Red Butte Garden in Salt Lake City, Utah, talked about annuals in an interview published in Horticulture.<\/em>\u00a0 Turner loves to use potted annuals \u201cdispersed here and there in the garden,\u201d and refers to the colorful plants as \u201cthe throw pillows of the plant world.\u201d<\/p>\n

That got me thinking about how I could use those \u201cthrow pillows\u201d to liven up my garden this coming spring, summer and fall.\u00a0 While considering the options and paging through catalogs, my eyes lit on a lovely pot marigold, or Calendula officinalis.\u00a0 While not a true marigold, like the yellow, gold or white varieties of Tagetes that are more common in gardens, it is a beautiful plant in its own right.\u00a0 Traditionally used in herbal preparations and fabric dying, it edible for humans, avoided by deer and amenable to pot culture.\u00a0 It sounds like a good \u201cthrow pillow\u201d to me.<\/p>\n

I decided to check into available pot marigolds.<\/p>\n

If you are not familiar with the species, a pot marigold flower looks a little like a mum, or possibly an exploded daisy.\u00a0 The traditional colors are yellow and orange, but breeders have expanded that range significantly.\u00a0 The plants grow one to two feet tall and equally wide, with abundant flowers throughout the growing season.\u00a0 Though the elongated green leaves are not particularly elegant or notable, they are un-objectionable.\u00a0 The flowers are clearly the stars in the calendula firmament.<\/p>\n

As I started to go through online and print catalogs, I discovered that anyone who wants a calendula will be spoiled for choice\u2014at least if that individual is willing to grow from seed.\u00a0 You can buy heirloom varieties like \u2018Orange King\u2019 from the 1920\u2019s, or newer improvements on traditionally colored flowers, such as the flashy\u201dNeon\u2019, also an orange bloomer.<\/p>\n

For a pot marigold that looks like a white sunflower made smaller, try \u2018Snow Princess\u2019 or \u2018Ivory Princess\u2019, both of which have large dark centers like sunflowers.\u00a0 The \u2018Pacific Beauties Mix\u2019 feature blooms with a similar sunflower-y look, except in shades of orange and yellow.<\/p>\n

Any time breeders try their hands at expanding the color range of orange or yellow flowers, they always come up with peach.\u00a0 The catalog listings are full of peach varieties, including \u2018Pink Surprise\u2019, which tones to darker peach at the center; or \u2018Kinglet Apricot\u2019 with crested or rolled petals in pale peach.\u00a0 \u2018Zeolights\u2019 features peach petals that shade closer to primrose at the center and are adorned with red tips.<\/p>\n

Fortunately the new calendula colors mix well, so if you want something vibrant, try one of the available mixes.\u00a0 Calendula \u2018Cantaloupe\u2019 is actually a mix of colors in the cream\/yellow\/apricot range, with relatively small, dark centers. The \u2018Solar Flashback Mix\u2019 contains a range of similar colors, with the added attraction of red-flared petal reverses.<\/p>\n

Sometimes you just need the prospect of something a little wild and crazy to keep you going until the growing season starts.\u00a0 For some that may mean doing handsprings across the frozen January lawn, but for those of us with less ambition or balance, there is Calendula \u2018Strawberry Blonde\u2019, which grabs attention with vivid green centers surrounded by gold rings and edged with a red band.\u00a0 The slender petals are scarlet on the reverse.\u00a0 \u2018Calexis Orange\u2019 is a compact variety that looks as if someone stuck the stem in an electrical outlet.\u00a0 It is bold, to say the least.\u00a0 \u2018Oopsy Daisy\u2019 boasts yellow centers in the midst of primrose to yellow petals that are edged in amber.<\/p>\n

Like many annuals, pot marigolds are relatively easy to grow.\u00a0 The seeds are large enough to handle easily\u2014unlike the microscopic seeds of annual poppies.\u00a0 They can be started indoors six to eight weeks before the last frost date for your area, or direct-sown in pots when the weather warms up.\u00a0 Use a good potting mix either way and water regularly.\u00a0 Once the plants are up and blooming, pinch the shoots to encourage branching and fullness and deadhead the spent blooms to persuade the pot marigold to continue fulfilling the biological imperative by producing more.<\/p>\n

I am ordering my seeds now to avoid disappointment later.\u00a0 After I get the order in, I\u2019ll see about stealing a greenhouse, as my indoor seed-starting space is limited.\u00a0 Good suppliers include Select Seeds, 180 Stickney Hill Road, Union, CT 06076; (800) 684-0395; www.slectseeds.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Free paper catalog.\u00a0 Baker Creek also has an interesting selection. Find them at 2278 Baker Creek Road, Mansfield, MO 63704; www.rareseeds.com<\/a>.\u00a0 Paper catalog available.<\/p>\n

If seed starting does not appeal to you or felony greenhouse theft is not in the cards, you will also be able to find traditional orange and yellow varieties in garden centers when spring arrives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The garden magazines are touting new plants right now, which is standard for January editions.\u00a0 In the midst of all that New Year\u2019s newness, I was pleased to see a garden pundit extol the virtues of something old-fashioned\u2014the use of annuals in garden beds and borders.\u00a0 Jimmy Turner, Executive Director of the Red Butte Garden … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,2,3],"tags":[2440],"class_list":["post-3283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fall","category-general-interest","category-spring","category-summer","tag-calendula-officinalis-pot-marigold-annuals-flower-seeds-container-plants-garden-color-seed-starting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3283"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3285,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3283\/revisions\/3285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gardenersapprentice.com\/gardeningtips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}