African Marigold.
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African Marigold.
The African Marigold, (Tagetes erecta), of yesteryear was a very different plant to the popular types available today.
Single flowered types, that looked like big orange daisies were popular, which are never seen now, ( Anyone who has ever had a rogue single flowered seedling , I'm sure will agree they are not of great beauty.)
Double flowered sorts were gaining in popularity at the turn of the 20th century. Every seedsman had their own strains sold by colour.
The colour range , then as now was limited to shades of orange and yellow.The main differences were that African Marigolds could not be had in bloom till late summer and the plants were often 3 ft tall.
A couple of popular named sorts were:
"Giant Orange": Double. 2.5 ft tall.
"Orange Beauty": Single 3 ft tall.
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