Plant Spotlight - Marigolds

Well, the first of my marigolds have started blooming, which provides the perfect opportunity to look a little closer at this plant.

Marigolds are quintessential co-planters. They do well next to pretty much anything. They attract lots of good insects. I’ve seen lots of pollinating butterflies around our blooms since they opened. Marigolds also have a slightly musky, almost tart smell, which deters harmful insects from your garden. This year our green beans were getting feasted upon by a bug every night. Before we knew it, their leaves were riddled with holes. However, once some marigolds came up in the garden (probably about ten feet away from the green beans), our green beans were left alone. Other pests like deer and rabbits won’t eat marigolds, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like they have the same ‘sphere of influence’ to deter deer or rabbits from the things surrounding them.

So grow marigolds wherever you want. They had some wonderful colors and will protect your garden from some of the smaller pests. They require very, very little maintenance. As a perennial, marigolds are super easy to reseed. Marigolds have a seed packet in the middle of the bloom filled with long, thin black seeds with light-colored tips. Just break that open in the fall when the blooms start to wilt and sprinkle it around the garden (or save some to give away or plant elsewhere). More will pop up the next year.

Also, marigolds are great for your skin. When the oil from marigold blooms is used in skin-care products, it’s known as calendula (although technically this is a subset of the marigold family). Last year we dried some marigold blooms and mixed them with equal parts olive oil and beeswax to make a skin rub. It’s great for chapped or dry skin and to heal scabs and rashes.