Simple Sun-lovers

Hello sunshine! That’s the cheerful greeting you get from marigolds, and what better tonic is there than a bed, border or container filled with these cheerful flowers.

- Alice Spenser-Higgs

Marigolds are fuss-free, quick-growing, and cope with the heat even during the hottest time of the year. They are relatively drought tolerant, needing regular but not excessive watering. The flowers are edible, the leaves can be used in insect-repelling sprays, and the roots produce a substance (alpha-terphenyl) that suppresses the growth of plant-parasitic nematodes and other organisms such as fungi, bacteria, insects and some viruses. A good, all-round garden citizen, then.

There are two types of marigolds, and each has their charm and use in the garden.

African marigolds (Tagetes erecta) have large double flowerheads that are ball shaped. Most varieties are 30 – 40cm high, carrying the round heads above dark green leaves on sturdy, compact plants that always look lush and healthy. In addition to yellow, gold and orange, there is a creamy-white variety called ‘Vanilla’. They are best used as a bedding and landscape plant, massed in front of taller perennials like salvias, pentas, ornamental millets, grasses and shrubs.