Calendula
– Pot Marigold.
Hardy Annual
1 foot.
Shades of yellow and orange. Flowers April to
October.
The Calendula Marigold must be distinguished
from the race generally called African and French,
whose proper names are respectively Tagetes erecta
and Tagetes patula. The Calendula is more dwarf
in growth than the African kind, and is a hardy
instead of a tender annual.
Seed should be sown in March or April in the open,
and the plants thinned out with a bold hand.
The soil
need not be particularly good, and even if it
is rather dry the Pot Marigold will thrive in
it, provided it has a full exposure to light and
air.
In light and favourable soils the plant sows itself
and becomes almost a weed, sometimes showing flower
through almost every month of the year.
The most distinct kinds are all very double; a
fine orange, which goes by the name of Prince
of Orange, a pale yellow, called Sulphur Queen,
or Lemon Queen; Meteor, striped with two shades
of yellow.
There is also a single form, pluvialis, or the
Cape Marigold, white and purple or maroon, resembling
a Marguerite or single Chrysanthemum.
POT MARIGOLD
Family COMPOSITAE
Calendula officinalis
Annual
A native of southern Europe and an old garden
favourite.
The common name owes its origin to old-time use
of the flower petals for flavouring. The leaves
are hairy, coarse and oblongish.
The thick branching stems grow up to two feet,
with flowers, four inches across, of flat white-yellow
to deep orange rays that tend to close at night.
The species owes its present great popularity
to the number of varieties of garden origin, with
fully double flowers such as Meteor and Orange
King, and Radio with fluted petals, that vary
in tones of apricot, lemon, sulphur and golden-yellow.
One of the easiest of plants to grow, the seed
may be sown in March or April, where the plants
are to bloom. As germination is free, seed should
be sown sparingly, thinning seedlings twelve inches
apart. The position may be in full sun or partial
shade.
Much valued as a cut flower, and may be grown
for a long season if protected by cloches in early
spring and late autumn to guard against frosts.
Propagate from seed.
The flowering season is from February to early
December.
|
