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Marigolds germinating from spent blossoms

 
gardener
Posts: 499
Location: Nara, Japan. Zone 8-ish
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Oh boy was I surprised to find sprouts coming out of the spent blossoms of one of the marigolds!

I've heard of tomatoes doing this. Is this something marigolds do as well? Or did I have a perfect storm in my garden?

It's very wet here, so it's hard for the spent blossoms to dry on their own I guess. I carefully teased them out and not much root activity. I tucked them lovingly into the soil and we'll see if they make it...it's supposed to rain all week.

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close up on a spent blossom with sprouts
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the offending plant
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still on the plant
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teased some out
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not much for roots yet
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lovingly tucked in
 
pollinator
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That is so neat! Nature always takes advantage of an opportunity, doesn't she? I guess the wet seed heads acted like a kind of 'peat pot' complete with moisture to help germination. I've never seen this before, but now I'm going to have to stroll outside and look at my marigolds! :)
 
steward
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Location: USDA Zone 8a
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I have never seen that happen maybe because my garden is always dry.

Yours looks fairly moist so I bet that the conditions were just right to cause germination.

Thanks for sharing this phenomenon!
 
gardener
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Very cool!  That's one of the many things I love about gardening.  No matter how much you know there is always something to learn.
 
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