Meet the most distinctive marigold we have ever grown. Fireball is a blaze of color over many months, its big double blooms opening a rich shade of red and then maturing to orange, bronze, and gold. It's like getting a mix of colors in a single packet of seeds.
These flowers measure about 2½ inches wide, packed with frilly petals and that characteristic marigold aroma. (Like it or not, it's a great pest deterrent.) They are great for cutting, and they last a long time in the garden. For the best color show, try sowing some Fireball seeds every 2 weeks for a month or more. You'll always have new red flowers among the orange, bronze, and gold.
This plant is quite compact, though the branching is good and the flowering profuse. Just 10- to 12-inches-high, it spreads no more than 8 inches wide, so you can show it off in containers as well as the sunny annual bed. It's also a nice choice for edging the driveway and garden paths, because every time you look, the colors are different.
Fireball is a French Marigold, easy to grow and as valuable in the tomato patch as it is in the annual bed and patio container. Marigolds kill nematodes, soil-borne pests that can destroy your tomato plants. So when you grow this beauty, sprinkle a few seeds around your favorite veggies and watch them grow and fruit better than before.
Marigold is best direct sown in the warm spring soil, after all danger of frost is past. However, sometimes we just can't resist starting it indoors for even quicker blooms. In that case, the 40- or even 18-cell Bio Dome is a good choice for these long, slender seeds.
Give Fireball plenty of sunshine and good soil drainage, and keep it watered and fed for nonstop flowers from summer into fall. There's no harder-working nor more useful annual in garden or container.
