Giant Marigold

by Julia
(Princeton, NJ)

I am really not sure how this happened, but when I tried growing some seeds this past year, I ended up with a Marigold that was about 4 feet high while my sunflower barely made 2 feet.

I planted them around the same time, in May, which was a little late to be starting either of them. As I normally do, I started them in these little plastic containers that flowers in flats normally come in, and then when the sprouts were about four inches high, I transferred them to bigger pots.

I made sure that the sunflowers were in the sunniest part of the garden and worried less about the Zinnas and Marigolds, etc. Before long I began to think that I had mislabeled one of the pots because one of the Marigolds was about twice as tall as any of the others.

Before long it started growing lots of roots from the lower part of the stalk, I guess because it kept needing more water and nutrients. The leaves were distinctively those of a marigold, but at least twice as big as any of the others that I had planted at the same time.

Meanwhile my poor sunflower was looking spindly, so I propped it up with a little stake and kept tending to it. I got a bud and the bloom began to emerge, but it was only about 2 1/2 inches wide, including the petals. The marigold however continued to act as though I had given it steroids (I swear I didn’t give it plant food or anything!). It took a while to actually bloom, but when I did it was the biggest I’ve ever seen. I trimmed it back and it kept blossoming into October, a good 2 months after the sunflower withered.

Cut Flower Gardens on eBay