Let's Grow Marigolds!
Marigolds are one of those flowers that I love growing year after year. A handful of shared seeds from a FB friend about four years ago has turned out to be one of the most prolific shares I've had to date. The resulting flowers that came from those seeds were gorgeous bushes full of bursts of golds and oranges and yellows. Here are the tips I'd share with anyone who wants to have these beautiful flowers return year after year.
Location, location, location! Find a shady spot in your garden. As you may have learned if you've been gardening in Arizona for any length of time, full-sun does not mean Arizona full-sun. Many sun-loving plants can't survive full-sun in Arizona.
Provide well-draining soil. You will have to provide water for your marigolds, but they don't like to have "wet feet." Wet them once or twice a week and let them dry out before watering again.
To deadhead or not to deadhead, that is the question. I deadhead my plants to promote more blooms. However, it isn't really necessary. If your flowers are in a great location, they will produce blooms for you because that's what happy flowers do! Location is so important! Maybe try it both ways and see which you prefer.
Save those seeds! I let my plants dry out, leaving them in the ground over winter, and collecting the dry seeds. One year I shared seeds with garden friends all over Arizona. It was such fun!
Sow seeds in early April --- so now! Now is the time! I prefer to hand sow. I have tried letting the wind sow seeds for me in the past with no luck. Because most of my "garden" is native soil, my seeds were not landing in desirable locations for optimal growth. Sow your seeds in prepared beds. (Remember location matters!) Try pots on your patio. They do well in pots, too!
This is one of last year's plants. It doesn't look like much,
but those little fluffs are full of next year's seeds ready to be collected and saved, shared, or sowed in your desert garden.
Why am I sharing last year's dried plants instead of bright, colorful, showy flowers? This is what the flowers look like in the yard right now at this moment. I'm harvesting the seeds and planting them this weekend. When the sprouts begin to push up through the earth, I'll share those pictures. But I find such solace in the beauty of these "before" shots.
How many times have we been counted out because we were at the end of one season preparing to plant the seeds of a new one?
That's where I am in my life right now --- divorced, ex-husband in prison, starting a new career in my mid-forties, going back to school, taking care of kids. It isn't glamorous. I feel like these flowers are a metaphor for my current situation. I may not look like much. I may look run down and done! But there's something inside me that just needs the right conditions and - Beauty will rise.
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