This weekend was rainy and rather chilly- a sign of the weather that is in our near future. I am not ready to succumb to the gloom that will inevitably be settling in around us here soon and neither is my garden. Throughout the dreary rain an annual shined and would not let the weather stop it from glowing bright in my herb garden.

This annual is an Orange Gem Marigold (Tagetes tenuifolia) and I have been growing it from seed for several years now. I love the little flowers it has along with their citrus like scent. It makes a great little plant for the front border of my herb garden. At times it has even reseeded for me which I always welcome. I might mention that is has never aggressively reseeded like a few other plants I know (think my latest posts on Cosmos and Mullein).

The cute little flowers on this marigold are also edible. I have scattered them on salads before but that is about as far as my experimenting with its culinary attributes have gone. I am sure it would make a lovely addition to an herb vinegar recipe. The flowers might lend a nice color to the vinegar as they infuse.

As its pictures show this one little plant is really packing a punch right now. I’m going to keep enjoying its cheerfulness while I still can.

For anyone interested, seeds for this Marigold can be found at Richters. The link will take you directly to their page for the Citrus Marigolds which include the Orange Gem as well as a Lemon Gem and a Red Gem.