Cheerful Little Presence in my Garden - Tagetes lemmonii x lucida 'Gold Medal'

This is a cheerful little plant that I bet you don't know about. In my garden, this has been blooming for months and is just now slowing down a little. Everybody knows Mexican Marigold or Tagetes lemmonii, the fall-blooming Southwest native, that gets about 4 feet tall and falls over. This is a nice plant but it can be too big and it has a short bloom season. There is a new cultivar Tagetes cross called Tagetes lemmonii x lucida 'Gold Medal'. This choice little gem doesn't get larger than 2 feet, and so far, for me, this little cushion of flowers is about 6 inches tall. This sterile cultivar flowers non-stop and hasn't grown in height. This is amazing to me! 

Tagetes lemmonii x lucida 'Gold Medal'

I am quite used to the bait-and-switch used by growers when they release supposedly compact-growing new plant cultivars that look great in the pot at the nursery only to get them home and see them take off in growth and become much, much taller. Not so with this plant, in fact, the label says 30-60 cms or 1-2 feet and it hasn't made a move towards this height. Some labels say only 30 cm in height, and that is what I am seeing. It seems to be putting all its energy into making flowers, which is a good thing. 

No deadheading required! After the flowers fade they disappear into the foliage to be replaced by a new round of buds. This plant is a blooming machine! What a cheerful presence in the garden. The information about this plant says it blooms from May to October. Apparently, my winter and spring blooming Tagetes 'Gold Medal' doesn't read as it has been blooming since the fall. 

I like the single flowers because bees and other pollinators can easily get their reward. 

Tagetes lemmonii x lucida 'Gold Medal'

This plant likes full sun and well-drained soil. My plant has a little shade and it still flowers well. It is just the cutest pincushion of flowers and it makes me happy when I see it. The foliage is lacy and medium green. I water it once a week with the hose. Information about this plant is scant and I cannot find the patent information. From what I can determine it is a cross between two perennial species, so I am hoping it is a longer-lived perennial. The foliage has the aromatic and medicinal smell of a marigold, that I find curious but not offensive, and the flowers have a light sweet fragrance. Deer and rabbits, however, find the fragrance unappetizing and leave the plant alone. The plant is not hardy or frost tolerant. 

This plant mixes well with Eremophila hygrophana, Festuca glauca, Agastache, small Agaves, Opuntia violacea var. santa-rita, Verbena de La Mina, and Salvia greggii 'Ignition Purple'.  This plant attracts beneficial insects and serves up nectar in an easy-to-find single flower. I want to make it easy for my pollinators to have a snack. I do not know who sells this plant, but I sure like it. It seems to like heat. If a smile was a plant it would be Tagetes x 'Gold Medal', it is guaranteed to brighten your day once you see it.