🏵️ Marigold
The garden's bodyguard flower — its scent repels many pests.
Marigold at a glance
Is Marigold frost tolerant?
Barely. A light frost is enough to damage it (0°C), and it is killed below -2°C. Treat it as frost-tender.
What temperature does Marigold grow best in?
It grows best between 12 and 30°C. Below 7°C it stops growing altogether, and above 34°C it slows down.
How many days does Marigold take to mature?
About 50–65 days. That is a typical figure: it needs roughly 600 °C·d of warmth above 7°C, so a warm season gets it there sooner and a cool one later. The city calendars below give the sow and harvest dates for each place.
Is Marigold a cool-season or warm-season crop?
Somewhere in between: it cannot take frost, so plant it after your last frost, but it starts growing from about 7°C — earlier in spring than the true heat-lovers.
What the numbers mean
These are the actual parameters this game runs on. Growth is driven by growing degree days: each day contributes max(0, min(mean temp, 32) − 7), and Marigold is ready when that total reaches 600. That is why the same seed takes a very different number of days in Dublin and in Guangzhou.
| Base temperature | 7°CBelow this, the plant accumulates no growing degree days at all. |
|---|---|
| Degree days to maturity | 600 °C·dThe heat budget it must accumulate before it is ready to pick. |
| Comfortable range | 12–30°CWhere it grows without stress. |
| Frost damage below | 0°CLeaves start taking frost damage below this low. |
| Killed below | -2°CBelow this it does not come back. |
| Heat stress above | 34°CAbove this the plant slows down and stops setting fruit well. |
| Typical time to harvest | 50–65 days |
| Yield per bed | 8 blooms |
Things worth knowing
- Marigold roots secrete compounds that suppress soil nematodes — gardeners plant them beside tomatoes as living pesticide.
- On Día de los Muertos, marigold petals are laid in paths to guide returning souls home.
Where and when to sow Marigold
Pick your city to see the months when Marigold scores well against that city's real climate records: