I always take an opportunity to spread the word about calendula, which seem to be under-represented in gardens, at least near me! I didn’t know much about them myself until a few years ago. At a gas station in late October, I saw flowers still blooming along a divider strip. I yanked a few out of the ground, took them to my yard, shoved them in the soil, watered daily. They perked up, grew until the first freeze, set seed, all in about 3 weeks, at the very end of the season. When spring arrived, I had new plants coming in like crazy mid-April. They started to bloom early June and they go until frost. They are, in fact, the very last bloom in my garden every year now. I had to thin them out as they spread so easily but they come right out and are easy to control. They are also easy to move fully established plants – pull up, get the roots, water for a week every day and they will take. Of course, you can also just sprinkle seeds anytime during the season and they’ll sprout almost immediately. No burying needed, just toss them where you want them. I know have multiple patches from those three late season impulse yanks! I think it’s five years now. You may want to put in a few 18″ garden fences in your calendula area – they get 24″ tall and high winds in thunderstorms can knock them down. Dollar stores have these little fences. Just get them in as the new growth is coming up and they’ll stay upright. They don’t smell like marigolds, they look like daisies and they never stop blooming. It takes a few minutes a week to remove seeds if you want. They look nicer cleaned up and you can use the seeds anywhere but you’ll have so many you can give them to friends or just toss them. A real gem of a flower. Oh, and while they don’t last long in a vase, you do get about 3 days if you want to bring some inside. Pick a newly opened flower and it will open and close indoors for a few days, sleeping at night and waking up in the day. Very cool.
