French marigold

Tagetes patula

Asteraceae

The scent that nematodes are said to hate — a ruffled Tagetes for the tomato edge, not the pot-marigold of the salve.

Tagetes, not calendula (pot marigold). Lemon marigold (T. tenuifolia) is the better edible; this plate is the companion row.

Parts used: Flower (companion planting) · Leaf (scent)
Traditional notes: Nematode folklore · Hoverfly edge · Cut flower · Dye
Grow · USDA 6b: Tender annual Direct after frost, or cheap starts. Easy. In work: May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct
Harvest: Flowers all summer if you cut

A ring, not a monoculture. Diversity does the insect work.
Calendula is the salve. Tagetes is the tomato neighbor.

Safety

Do not substitute this for calendula in a skin salve

Companions

Plant with Anise hyssop, Bee balm, Borage, Cabbage, Calendula, Cornflower.

Lookalikes

Calendula — A salve recipe that says ‘marigold’ sometimes meant Calendula, sometimes Tagetes. They are not the same plant, and Tagetes is the nematode folklore, not the skin oil.

Lore

The French in the name is a nursery habit, not a French wildflower. Mexicans used Tagetes for ceremony and dye long before European parterres. The nematode paper trail is mixed; the hoverflies are not an argument.

The Herbarium — a teaching catalog, not a clinic. Traditional use is history, not a prescription. USDA 6b dates are a week either way, not a promise. Do not eat, drink, or harvest a plant you cannot name.