Pot Marigold
Calendula officinalis. ASTERACEAE (COMPOSITAE).
Planting and Growing Pot Marigold
You’ll find everything you need to know to plant and grow pot marigold in the accompanying table’s tabs:
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- Flowers, foliage, and root structure of pot marigold
- Plant hardiness and growing conditions for pot marigold
- Season of bloom and planting time for pot marigold
- When, how deep, and where to plant pot marigold
- How to plant pot marigold
- Watering, fertilizing, care, and pests or diseases of pot marigold
- Landscape and container uses of pot marigold
- Comments about pot marigold and its features
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Growing Pot Marigold
Many cultivars of upright, branching or mounding herbs, to 2 ft. (60 cm) tall. Alternate, textured, medium green, broadly oval, wavy-edged, sometimes toothed leaves, to 1-1/2-in. (38-mm) long.
Common cultivars include Calendula officinalis ‘Fiesta’, ‘Gypsy Festival’, ‘Pacific Apricot’, and ‘Touch of Red’.
Dwarf cultivars available.
See also Marigold, Tagetes erecta, a related plant with similar care needs.
Planting and Care Guide
Blooms
Many showy, deep orange, light or bright yellow, round, button-shaped, double-petaled, edible flowers, to 4 in. (10 cm) wide, in spring–autumn. Repeat blooming.
Best Climates
Self-seeding, zones 2–10.
Soil Type and Fertility
Moist, well-drained loam. Fertility: Rich–average. 6.5–7.5 pH.
Where and How to Plant
Spring in full sun, 6–12 in. (15–30 cm) apart, after frost hazard has passed. Start seed indoors 6–8 weeks before final frost for early blooms; transplant when soil warms.
Proper Care
Easy. Keep moist. Fertilize every 2 months. Deadhead spent flowers to prolong bloom. Stake tall cultivars. Propagate by seed.
About This Plant
Good choice for beds, borders, containers in cottage, formal, meadow, small-space gardens. Good for cutting. Source of medicinal and culinary herb. Spider mite, whitefly susceptible.