Now that my flowerbeds have been blanketed in snow—although it will probably be gone by the end of the week—my thoughts have drifted to ordering flower seeds for next summer’s garden.
One plant I’ll definitely be growing again is the lovely French marigold, Alumia Vanilla Cream:
This plant is a Fleuroselect Novelty Award winner with 2.5-inch soft yellow flowers. You can direct-sow seeds into the garden once your last frost date has passed, or you can start plants indoors in late winter to get a head start on the blooming season. I sowed my seeds in early April and the plants were ready to go into the garden by the end of May.
‘Alumnia Vanilla Cream’ grows 10 to 12 inches tall on sturdy stems, and the flowers just keep coming all summer long. I was afraid the pale color would bore me, but I was charmed by this little marigold. It’s a wonderful border plant and I can’t think of another color in the garden that this plant wouldn’t complement.
The breeder has introduced other colors, but so far I’ve only been able to find seeds for this one and a mix. If more colors become available I would definitely grow them. ‘Alumia Vanilla Cream is a carefree, easy-to-grow beauty.
2 comments
These marigolds are beautiful! I haven’t planted marigolds for a few years because they were ravaged by earwigs.
Sorry I’ve been late getting back to you. But we were in Toronto for just under a month looking after our grandson while our daughter and her husband went to Israel for 10 days. Had a great trip.
We’ve had no snow yet, but the days and nights have been cold.
I have ordered a few packets of seed from Vesey’s. No exchange rate and no handling fee. But I am going to order three or four packets from Swallowtail. How’s your seed buying coming along. Did you buy these new mixed colored Zinnias last year
My plants did well at the cottage — full sun; but my best growers here were the Rudbeckias. Will try a few Saharas and mixed Zarahas. Will see what happens.
James
Good to hear from you, James! I placed my first seed order last week from Harris. There are a few flower cultivars that I love that I can only get from them and they had a 20% off offer that I couldn’t refuse. It forced me to get my seed list in shape, so if any other %-off or free shipping offers come up (say for Cyber Monday or Christmas) I won’t have to scramble to figure out what I need/want. Some of the seed catalogs have started to arrive in the mail, but I haven’t had any time to look them over to see if there’s anything new and exciting for sale this year.
I’m going to try Saharas again, too. I thought the flowers were really cool, and I always have to grow the Zahara and Profusion zinnias. They are the bones of my flowerbeds. The earwigs were nonexistent here last summer, so I’m going to push my luck and try more marigolds. I hadn’t been growing them for quite a number of years because the Japanese beetles were so bad and they looooove marigolds. I had forgotten how long-lasting marigolds are. I had some blooming right up until about two weeks ago—they even weathered a freeze!
The 6 inches of snow we got last weekend has already melted. It’s going to be a weird winter…
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