While it’s clear we’re all a bunch of veggie lovers, we also have a soft spot for flowers. We grow a good amount of flowers at VRDNT for the beautiful bouquets sold at our Mueller Farmers’ Market booth on Sundays. One of our most vibrant flowers in both hue and scent is marigolds. Every year around this time, we like to write about something spooky, and this year we’re shifting our focus from Halloween to Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead.
A Mexican holiday celebrated on November 1st and 2nd, Día de los Muertos is held to honor and remember loved ones who have passed on. A focal point of this celebration are the altars, or ofrendas, which are decorated with photos of the dead, sugar skulls, candles, food, and flowers, the foremost of which are marigolds.
Marigolds, or cempasúchil, are arranged into crosses said to help the dead be cleansed of their sins, garlands, stars, wreaths, or their petals scattered on the ground forming pathways towards the altars or families’ front doors. It is believed that their strong scent guides the dead from their burial places back to their family and home. Marigolds are an orange-gold beacon of celebrating life in the remembrance of loved ones now passed.
Please read more about Día de los Muertos and how marigolds play an important part by visiting these links where we garnered most of our information:
Everyday Uses
Blooming in fall after the peak heat of Central Texas summers and before the first frost, Marigolds offer a variety of uses. They act as a natural form of pest control, making them a great companion plant, especially for most nightshades like tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers. Marigolds attract pollinators, of course, and help repel nematodes in the soil (the kind that aren’t beneficial, like the root-knot nematodes one of our fields suffered from recently). You can even use marigolds as a natural dye. Unfortunately, they aren’t edible for humans, but luckily, we have plenty of other goodies to chow down on from the farm.
Itching for more spooky season reads? Check out last year's blog on the origin of Jack O'Lanterns and the hardships of growing pumpkins for profit.
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