Safari Orange is all about the colour. Rich, bold, brash, in-your-face, out-and-out orange. There’s no mistaking it. I love it. They bring a ta-da to any space where green is predominant. The richness of them paired with taller white blooms, like little flaming uplighters! And not all that little, these have large flowers for their size: up to 5cm across. They are easy to grow and need minimal care – most of which is deadheading so you get even more flowers!
🌸 Flowering: June to October
📏 Height: to 25cm
🌿 Annual
Sow: in March and April in trays of seed compost, sow 3mm deep, lightly covering with perlite, vermiculite or compost. Seal in a plastic bag and keep at about 18-20C. Germination takes 1-2 weeks. Pot up into modules when large enough to handle.
Grow: they prefer full sun and well-draining soil. When your young plants reach around 6cm tall, harden off and plant out about 15cm apart. For an edging, space a bit closer together. Grow some close to your tomatoes or pop some of them around your veg plot.
Enjoy: OK so if you are fully into pastels and pinks this is not for you. But for a hotter palette, they are perfect. With reds and greens they light things up while a pairing with white will cool them a little.
🏡 In your garden
• Cottage and informal gardens
• Patio and container growing
• City and courtyard gardens
• Coastal sites
• Flower borders, beds and edging
• Pollinator plantings
• Cutting gardens
• Vegetable gardens
✂️ Cut flower
• Fresh vase life of 7 to 12 days.
• Suitable for mini-vases and short bud vases, perfect for low table settings.
• The foliage and blooms carry a pungent, citrus-like aroma that some people love and others find intense.
🐝 Pollinator friendly
• The long flowering season is a steady food source for pollinators and other beneficial insects.
🍴 Edible
• Be prepared for a strong spicy taste with a citrus edge. Eat only the petals as the calyx is bitter.
• They are a colourful garnish. I find the heat of soup can tone down the spicy kick.
• I also love them with rice that has been cooked in turmeric for an orange-on-yellow visual combination…and any curry will cover the spice in the marigold!
🎨 Natural dye plant
• The flowers can be used for natural dyeing.
• Prepare your cotton, hemp and linen fabrics using a tannin bath and then an alum mordant.
• Simmer the flower heads for an hour to release the colour. Strain out the flowers, then submerge your fabric and simmer for another hour.
• Leave your fabric in the dye bath to cool completely for deeper, stronger shades.
• The flowers will give you yellow and gold shades. You can use iron to ‘shift’ the colour to green shades.
💡 Did you know?
There are several different types of marigold. French Marigolds (Tagetes patula), like Safari Orange, are compact and bushy. African Marigolds (Tagetes erecta) are taller with pom-pom style flowers. Signet Marigolds (Tagetes tenuifolia) stay low, form mounds and have single flowers.
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