Re: Mexican Marigold

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Hi Dan,

T. lemmonii, Copper Canyon daisy, is a woody shrub to 5 feet or so. Nice for winter bloom. Prune it heavily after bloom and it will come back nicely. Not everyone likes the scent, so plant where it won't get accidentally brushed against. It is relatively drought-tolerant.

T. lucida, Mexican tarragon,is a small herbaceous plant that goes dormant midwinter to spring here in the Bay Area. It is similar to French tarragon in scent and flavor, a little less subtle, but very nice. The leaves are good chopped very small and sprinkled on a salad.  They also hold their flavor when dried. It is a better choice than French tarragon for gardens with mild winters, since French tarragon will be a very short-lived perennial where winters don't give it sufficient chill. Flowerheads of T. lucida are rather small, in the autumn. I haven't eaten the flowers, but have used them in a bouquet. It would prefer a little warmer summer weather than we get here. Sunset says it reaches 3 feet tall, but it's more like 14 inches here, at best.

T. tenuifolia, or Signet marigold, another Mexican species, has edible flowers. (You could eat the flowers of T. patula, but they don't taste very good. Signet marigold's claim to fame is that it doesn't have that strong marigold taste.) It's an annual that can be grown from seed and makes a nice border plant for a food or flower garden. Seedlings are kind of delicate.

As far as I know, Calendula officinalis, what Europeans called marigold before they were aware of the Mexican species of Tagetes, is not South African but European, or Mediterranean. It was known and used in food in Europe since the Middle Ages, whereas South African plants didn't start arriving in Europe until much later, after Europeans began to go there by ocean voyage.

Pam Peirce,
San Francisco