My New Favorite Marigolds

I planted a lot of marigolds this year. Most of them were disappointing. The Cempoalxochitl marigolds are so insulted about being virtually hidden behind the gigantic Aztec sunflowers that they have elected not to bloom so far.

The Harlequin marigolds from the 1870's were described as having "brilliant red petals very distinctly divided by a yellow stripe, topped with a small bushy center". And this is what they were supposed to look like:

This is what actually came up:


Just plain old yellow flowers. They have very tiny, very faint red stripes.

And then there were the Cottage Red marigolds that were supposed to look like this:

But they ended up looking like this:

Every year I manage to order so much that I am eligible for free seeds. Of course I can't choose what I would like. The companies prefer to make that decision for me. One of the free packets I received were marigolds called Tiger Eyes from J.W. Jung Seed Co. Not heirloom. No picture on the envelope. I threw them into a bed in the front of the house and forgot about them. Until they bloomed. They are gorgeous. My pictures don't do them justice, so here is a picture from the Jung's site:
A little research revealed that these marigolds are offered by several seed companies. Best of all, Park's Seeds describes them as "an open-pollinated Marigold that has been gracing gardens for more than a century".

My new favorite (heirloom) marigolds!