Pure Beauty Farms 7.5″ African Marigold Plant

If your garden needs a little sunshine you can hold in your hand, meet the African marigold. This Pure Beauty Farms plant comes in a 7.5-inch pot with big, ruffled orange pom-pom blooms that look almost too cheerful to be real. Also called American marigolds (Tagetes erecta), these are the tall, showy cousins of the little French marigolds you see edging sidewalks. New to growing flowers? Our gardening for beginners guide is a friendly place to start.

Marigolds bloom from summer into fall and attract butterflies, making them an easy win for beds, borders, and containers. Give this one plenty of sun and space it about 12 inches from its neighbors. Let the soil dry a bit between waterings, then water deeply at the base of the plant, since wet leaves can invite powdery mildew. Skip the rich fertilizer, too: too much nitrogen gives you leaves instead of flowers. Are marigolds perennials? No, they’re annuals that bloom until frost. Do you have to deadhead them? Not strictly, but snipping off spent blooms and pinching the tips early on keeps the plant bushy and flowering longer.

Good to know: several reviewers say their plants arrived with a few broken stems, so if you’re ordering online, unbox it right away and trim any damaged pieces. Reviewers also note there are usually plenty of buds still waiting to open.

Styling tip: group a few pots on the steps for a warm front porch welcome, or tuck marigolds among pumpkins and mums for a golden fall outdoor display. Find more ideas in our gardening and outdoor stories.