Common Marigold
Tagetes erecta
In the Carolinas and Georgia, commonly cultivated, rarely persistent or as a waif. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition What its natural habitat tells you
—
Not native
Not native to Louisiana. How scores work Is it native here?
Profile 76%
- Height
- 1–4 feet
- Spread
- 1–2 feet
- Light
- Full sun, Partial shade
- Soil moisture
- Dry to average
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At a glance
- Life cycle
- Annual or perennial
- Leaves
- Deciduous
- Bloom
- July to November
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Recorded in 2 Louisiana parishes.
Ecological relationships
Who uses this plant?
6CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including LA
Genus host records with ranges including LA · Tagetes
- Condica sutorThe Cobbler, Cobbler Groundling
- Feltia subterraneaSubterranean Dart, Granulate Cutworm
- Homoeosoma electellaSunflower Moth
- Nathalis ioleDainty Sulphur, Dwarf Yellow
- Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera ornithogalliYellow-Striped Armyworm Moth, Cotton Cutworm
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
—Specialist beesPollen specialists
—BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claimGrowing and identification
Plant details
- Family
- Asteraceae
- Hardiness
- Zones 2a–11b
- Soil pH
- Acidic to alkaline
- Flower color
- Cream, yellow, orange, red, variegated or white
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Growing sources and scope
- Bloom · “July to November” · Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), Carolinas & Georgia edition · Carolinas and Georgia
- Flower color · “Cream, yellow, orange, red, variegated or white” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Hardiness · “Zones 2a–11b” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Height · “1–4 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Leaves · “Deciduous” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Life cycle · “Annual or perennial” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Light · “Full sun (6 or more hours of direct sunlight a day); Partial shade (direct sunlight only part of the day, 2-6 hours)” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil · “Occasionally dry” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Soil pH · “Acidic to alkaline” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
- Spread · “1–2 feet” · NC Extension Plant Toolbox
Conservation status
| Louisiana rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | GNR |
| LA status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Sources
- NatureServe Explorer
- USDA PLANTS
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025)
- Louisiana occurrence source
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications