![\"tagetes_lucida_01\"](\"http:\/\/www.chickenfish.cc\/bio\/wp-content\/media\/tagetes_lucida_01.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe seeds germinate fairly easily and quickly but the small plants tend to take a while to grow a good root system before bolting with growth. The flowers form in late summer and create masses of seed right into mid winter. They keep well as cut flowers too.<\/p>\n
It’s easy to propagate by taking a good sized stem cutting in summer when in full growth.<\/p>\n
Most of the new growth occurs during late spring and all through summer and the plants will get to about a metre high on average even with some constant trimming for harvest.<\/p>\n
The stems tend to branch well and I just stop harvesting in late summer and let them form flowers so there is plenty of seed for increasing and turning over the stock of plants. They last a long time but you get better taste I think from plants that are growing well in the first 3-5 years.<\/p>\n
They do not need a lot of feeding and water but they do respond well if grown in a good soil and watered often or at least have a good mulch added to them that can retain the moisture. They love the heat and direct hard sun on them and the oil content seems best when grown that way.<\/p>\n
They can sometimes appear to die back to almost bare stick when it gets too cold but I have found that they recover well\u00a0as soon as it warms up in spring if this happens as long as the roots are not exposed to too much cold.<\/p>\n http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tagetes_lucida<\/a><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.pfaf.org\/user\/Plant.aspx?LatinName=Tagetes+lucida<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n