"The Marigold Man and the Ad Man"

 The Marigold Man was David Burpee, son of world-famous Burpee Seed founder, W. Atlee Burpee.  The Ad Man was David Ogilvy founder of Ogilvy & Mather advertising agency--the most famous advertising man in the world.

Gardening brought them together briefly in 1972.  Both loved gardening and both were relentless promoters.  Burpee Seed had been acquired by General Foods, Ogilvy & Mather's largest client, as part of a strategy to diversify beyond packaged food products.

In the 1920's a root disease struck Burpee's best selling sweet-pea business.  Burpee laid his hopes for a replacement on the marigold, which had many of the characteristics of the perfect flower--easy to grow, pretty, adaptable to hot summers, long flowering, lasting in bouquets, long stems for cutting.

Burpee's goal was to quickly make the marigold over into a "glamor girl" before the rose growers succeeded in their campaign to name the rose as America's national flower.  Burpee launched a campaign through the '50's and 60's by delivering oversized marigolds to the White house and named varieties 'First Lady' and 'Mamie Eisenhower'.  He named a 'Mr. Sam' marigold for Sam Rayburn, Speaker of the House of Representatives, and a 'Senator Dirksen' marigold for Everett Dirksen, for his remarks on the Senate floor on behalf of "native" marigolds: "Native in character--grows and thrives in all 50 states."

Unfortunately the marigold lost to the rose in 1985 when the US Senate anointed the rose as the national flower.  All was not lost, his promotional efforts over the years made the marigold America's most popular flower, its visibility further boosted by a national contest to develop a true white marigold. The prize money in 1954 was $10,000.  Twenty years later the company itself developed a white marigold.

Burpee died in 1980 at age 87: Ogilvy died in 1999, at age 89.  Both had built strong brands-a concept Ogilvy was first to champion in 1955.

Marigolds are probably one of the most popular and most underrated flowers we plant.  Isn't that the flower we go to for a splash of color, a border planting or the ever faithful flower for a bouquet?

Medicinally the flowers are used as an antiseptic and are even reported to cure hiccups.  The plant contains compounds which make it antifungal, antibacterial and anti-inflammatory.  

The strong-scented leaves of marigolds are said to be the most valuable herbal deterrents to garden pests.  Planted with tomatoes they are said to deter tomato hornworm.

The edible marigold is the signet or gem marigold.  Rather than the puffy pom-pom flowers, the blossoms are single (just one layer of petals).  The flowery have a warm spicy taste that has often been compared to tarragon.  The leaves have a lemony fragrance rather than the acrid smell of most marigold foliage.  Butterflies favor the signet marigold.

Use the flowers as a garnish for mixed green salad, potato salad or pasta salad.  They can also be steamed with beans or zucchini.  A cooking note:  the white area at the base of the petal is very bitter tasting, cut it off before adding flower petals to your cooking.

The Tagetes now comes in many colors and scentless, but to me, a marigold has to be bright yellow.

Be sure to listen to the Gardening: Get Good at It "Making Gardening Easier: Adaptive Techniques" segment on Tues. June 1 on KPOV 88.9 FM between 9-9:30 am .