French / African marigold: when to sow, plant and see it flower
Sowing, planting and flowering dates for your climate, with growing advice.
Photo: JDP90 (Joydeep), CC BY-SA 3.0 · image resized
When to sow and plant in your region
Average dates, computed from the frost dates of each climate. For your exact dates, choose your town.
| Climate | Sow under cover | Sow outdoors | Plant out | Flowering |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| South and east of England | 9 February – 21 April | 20 May – 17 June | 20 May – 17 June | 23 May – 3 November |
| South-west England and Wales | 29 January – 10 April | 22 May – 19 June | 22 May – 19 June | 12 May – 19 November |
| Midlands, northern England and Northern Ireland | 20 February – 2 May | 1 June – 29 June | 1 June – 29 June | 3 June – 28 October |
| Scotland | 2 March – 12 May | 13 June – 11 July | 13 June – 11 July | 13 June – 19 October |
| Ireland | 6 February – 18 April | 1 June – 29 June | 1 June – 29 June | 20 May – 10 November |
Growing
- Life cycle
- Annual (sown and in flower the same year)
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Latin name
- Tagetes patula / Tagetes erecta
- Cold tolerance
- Tender (killed by frost)
- Emergence
- 4–7 days
- Spacing
- 20–30 cm
Sources
- The Old Farmer's Almanac — Companion planting chart
- Conboy N.J.A. et al. (2019). Companion planting with French marigolds protects tomato plants from glasshouse whiteflies through the emission of airborne limonene. PLOS ONE 14(3): e0213071
- Gerbeaud — Légumes bons voisins : bonnes et mauvaises associations
- Garden Organic — Companion or mixed planting
- Hooks C.R.R., Wang K.-H., Ploeg A., McSorley R. (2010). Using marigold (Tagetes spp.) as a cover crop to protect crops from plant-parasitic nematodes. Applied Soil Ecology 46: 307–320
- Jardiner Malin — Associations de légumes et fruits au potager
- Orto Da Coltivare — Orto sinergico: consociazioni e disposizione delle piante
- Orto Da Coltivare — Cosa piantare vicino ai pomodori
- RHS — Three ways to use companion planting
- Terre Vivante — Associer légumes et plantes pour protéger le potager
- University of Delaware Cooperative Extension — The New Companion Planting: Adding Diversity to the Garden
- University of Maryland Extension — Vegetable succession and companion planting
- RHS — Plant pages (hardiness ratings H1-H7)
- NC State Extension Gardener Handbook — 10. Herbaceous Ornamentals
- Jardiner Malin — flower and bulb fiches (same species; the lin, bleuet and lavatère pages are seed product pages, and lin is red flax)
- The Old Farmer's Almanac — flower growing guides (cosmos, calendula, marigolds, nasturtiums, sunflowers, sweet alyssum, zinnias, sweet peas, snapdragons, morning glories, poppies, bachelor's buttons, foxglove, pansies, hollyhocks, lupines, columbine, delphiniums, coneflowers, black-eyed Susans, yarrow, dianthus, tulips, daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, snowdrops, dahlias, gladiolus, lilies)
- Johnny's Selected Seeds — Flower Growing Guide and key growing information pages
- Gerbeaud — flower and bulb fiches (cosmos, souci, capucine, tournesol, alysse, zinnia, nigelle de Damas, coquelicot, pavot de Californie, pois de senteur, muflier, reine-marguerite, ipomée, mauve annuelle, annuelles rustiques, giroflée ravenelle, digitale, myosotis, pensée, rose trémière, pâquerette, lupin, ancolie, delphinium, échinacée, rudbeckia, gaillarde, achillée, tulipe, crocus, jacinthe, perce-neige, muscari, ail d'ornement, dahlia, glaïeul, lis, bulbes d'automne, profondeur de plantation)