Tagetes Gold Medal ['09TAG1002'] PP24,856 (Dwarf Mexican Marigold). A small semi-hardy shrub to 2' tall with aromatic dissected medium green foliage and lightly fragrant gold yellow daisy flowers nearly year-round with flowering heaviest fall through late spring.
Plant in full to part sun in a well-drained soil and irrigate occasionally to infrequently. Hardy to around 25 to 28° F and will resprout from the base if frosted back. Older flowers are hidden by the new so no deadheading is needed but plants can be shaped by pruning after spring flowering is past. The sharp smell of the foliage seems to deter both deer and rabbits. This plant seems particularly showy in early fall when it can be a solid mass of flowers.
Tagetes Gold Medal looks very much like a smaller version of the fall blooming Mexican Marigold, Tagetes lemmonii, which is a shrub that we grow that often gets 6 feet tall or more. It reportedly is a hybrid created in 2008 by Japanese plant breeder Ushio Sakazaki, who listed it as a cross between Tagetes lemmonii and another hybrid marigold, which some speculate might have involved the lower growing perennial Mexican tarragon, Tagetes lucida. As this plant most closely resembles Tagetes lemmonii, others speculate it has no other species involved in the parentage. It was issued US Plant Patent PP24,856 in September 2014 with the patent is administered by John Rader of Amerinova Properties, from whom we obtained permission in 2018 to grow this plant, however we discontinued production of this plant as it struggled to look good after the first year.
The information about Tagetes Gold Medal ['09TAG1002'] PP24,856 displayed on this web page is based on our research conducted in the nursery's horticultural library and from reliable online resources. We also include observations made about it as it grows in our nursery gardens and other gardens we have visited, as well how the crops have performed in containers in our nursery field. We will also incorporate comments we receive from others and welcome hearing from anyone with additional information, particularly if they can share cultural information that would aid others in growing this plant. |