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How to Plant, Grow, and Care for Marigold Flowers
The flowers of Tagetes marigolds are NOT edible, but those of Calendula are. The bright petals of Calendula add color and a spicy tang to salads and other summer dishes.
- The flower petals are sometimes cooked with rice to impart saffron’s color (but, unfortunately, not flavor).
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Do you think marigold is the best plant to place around an outdoor pool as a mosquito deterant?
Thanks for the great website.
Deadheading does indeed promote bushier growth; it also encourages blooming. You don’t need to restrict yourself to the center bud. Examine the plant and get rid of any flowers on the wane and edit a few unopened buds–this may seem counterintuitive, but it works! Regular deadheading ensures a longer blooming season. (Be sure you pluck spent flowers before they have time to go to seed.)
Unless of course you want plenty of free seeds for next year. In that case at the very end of your growing season , take the flower heads that have completely dried on the plant , remove them , grab what used to be the flower petals and pull them away from the dried husk . You should now have a hand full of seeds . Please note not all dried flower heads will produce seeds but a fair number will, you willl see the difference. Keep in a dry place till spring , drizzle on the ground where you want then , cover with a light coating of soil water , stand back and let Mother Nature do the rest.
Now collecting dried flowers to have my own seed. Will the seed need to be inside during a freezing winter? And if I cut off the plants
at ground level will they grow back in the spring as priannual?
When planting marigold plants bought from a garden centre should the centre flower bud be deadheaded to promote bushy growth and not high growth.
Deadheading does indeed promote bushier growth; it also encourages blooming. You don’t need to restrict yourself to the center bud. Examine the plant and get rid of any flowers on the wane and edit a few unopened buds—this may seem counterintuitive, but it works! Regular deadheading ensures a longer blooming season. (Be sure you pluck spent flowers before they have time to go to seed.)
can someone discribe development stages of Marigold ?
Marigolds are annuals, so they complete their life cycle in one season. The seed is the embryo. It develops roots and sends up vegetative growth (seed leaf) called cotyledon. It continues to grow and photosynthesize, eventually resulting in a flower. Marigolds need to be pollinated to reproduce seed. The plants die once new seeds mature.
I just received a flower of a marigold.... I live it Auckland NZ , and it's Autumn going onto winter... It generally rains a lot during winter and there will not be a lot of sunlight , so do you recommend I keep the flower inside or still plant it outside ? And because of the wet and moisture how often should I water it ?