For fiery color and low-maintenance gardening, the many calendula varieties available are hard to beat. Commonly known as pot marigolds, they produce charming daisy flowers that blaze in shades of orange and yellow all summer long.
As well as being perfect additions to your flower bed ideas, they make excellent cut flowers and are commonly used for companion planting in the vegetable patch. The genus Calendula includes 15 species, some of which (including the pot marigold, C. officinalis, and the field marigold, C. arvensis) are native to the Mediterranean; while others are endemic to the Middle East, including Iran, where calendula is much-loved. Tagetes – also referred to as marigolds (including French and African marigolds) – is a different genus.
