looks like it got hit with roundup or other chems .. or something ...

why all the dead foliage?? .. any speculation???

ken

Just because it is "different", I would save seeds from it to see if it can start a new strain. There might be a use for that plant form. The dead lower foliage could be a nutrient deficiency or, possibly, an excess of something.

ZM

I don't think chemicals of any sort caused this, nor is it anything you did. It is like you said a mutant

This looks like it came from saved seed. Either that or an errant seed from the seed companies experiments got into your package.

The latter happened to me once years ago. I ordered Grandiflora Petunias. One seed produced the wierdest Petunia. It had a flower about 6 or 7 inches across. Instead of being trumpet shaped it had about a 3 inch depression in the middle with hairlike things around the depression. It had to be absolutely the ugliest flower I'd ever seen.

If it did come from a seed company e-mail them and send a picture. I'll bet you get a free package of seeds--I did and I didn't include a photo

I could be reverted back to an heirloom marigold and/or got too much nitrogen early in the season.

The seed came from flowers I had last year, so not directly from a seed company. And as far as I know, it never got any extra nitrogen at all.
We have been having a bad drought here and haven't had rain (until today!) for at least six weeks. Everything is dying, so I think that is why all the dead foliage.
Zenman, I will keep the seeds to see what happens next year. If it is a new strain, what do I do with the seeds?

Well wilson that is a prime example to all seed savers what can happen with hybrid Seeds.

Do you really want to save the seeds from this plant and breed more of the same or something worse. It has no redeeming characteristics that you would like to breed into other marigolds.

Well to each your own. If you want to try then go ahesd, but I wouldn't

Wilson,

"I will keep the seeds to see what happens next year. If it is a new strain, what do I do with the seeds?"

Good question. That depends on how many viable seeds, if any, this current specimen produces. If it doesn't produce any viable seeds, that will be that. If it produces a lot, and you grow a whole bed of marigolds saved from this mutant, you may very well see a whole range of variation in that bed, including some specimens even stranger than this one. You will have the option of picking your favorites from those specimens and saving seeds from them.

By that time your curiosity may be sufficiently whetted so as to experiment with cross-pollinating some of your mutant specimens. It took Burpee many years of running the contest for the nearest-to-white marigolds to get commercial strains of "white marigolds".

I raise zinnias as a hobby, and dabble at breeding them, and whenever I see a mutant zinnia, I save seeds from it and frequently I will cross it with other interesting zinnias. I don't hesitate to save seeds from hybrids, and I will cross hybrids with other hybrids. This hybrid-of-hybrids zinnia was somewhat "different".

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That zinnia reminded me a little of a giant dandelion flower. I liked its looks, although some people might reject it as "un-zinnia-like". I tend to agree with the saying that, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Your mutant marigold is standing head and shoulders above the marigolds around it. Its tree-trunk-like stem could help it resist damage from strong winds. Who knows what its progeny might look like? It might be an "ugly duckling".

ZM

Albert, do you know of any heirloom marigolds that look like this? That would be interesting to find out.

Zenman, that is a fantastic zinnia! I have seen your postings on zinnias and I love all the different varieties you have bred. There are some that are really extraordinary. If I get some interesting zinnias next year, maybe we can trade seeds!

Wilson,

I have had several zinnias that I think of as "marigold flowered", such as this specimen (which also happens to be a "threesie").

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The "marigold flowered" zinnias almost always have some scabiosa flowered zinnia "blood" in them. Zinnias have a wider color range than marigolds, although marigold foliage generally looks better.

"If I get some interesting zinnias next year, maybe we can trade seeds!"

That could be a win-win for both of us. The more people we have on the lookout for interesting new zinnia forms, the better are chances are of finding good new stuff. And by inter-crossing those new finds, we leverage our chances of getting even more unique specimens.

ZM

The more people we have on the lookout for interesting new zinnia forms, the better our chances are of finding good new stuff.

ZM

That is a really beautiful "marigold" zinnia. I also had a few "threesies" this year, but they did not have an interesting flower. It wold be a dream to trade seeds with you, but I'm afraid your selection will be many times more interesting than mine.

Here is one from last year that was different:
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And another that had a neat color:
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The marigold from the original posters pic looks almost like it has 'witches broom' - a problem trees often get, I'm not sure if it occurs in herbaceous plants. Its usually caused by a pathogen altering some type of hormone in the plant, i think?

I grew one too, from flower seeds....mine is gorgeous....I cut it and put in a vase.....

I think Sarah's suggestion of Witches Broom as the explanation for the original posted marigold is very likely the correct explanation. It is an odd disease that can affect a wide variety of plants, and it is an incurable disease. It can be spread from one plant to another by a specific species of leafhopper.

ZM

Witches brooms do not develop in annuals - they are only present in woody plants, like trees and shrubs. They are not necessarily a disease nor are they always vectored by leafhoppers. Locating a witches broom in any sort of woody plant is considered a major horticultural find, as these tend to be the beginnings of new dwarf or compact cultivars of the host plant and are propagated by cuttings to retain those dwarfing or unique attributes.

Since the vast majority of marigolds sold in nurseries (and from seed) are hybrids and do not come true from seed, this is very likely seed collected from a hybrid plant that is showing some of it Tagates erecta parentage. Tagetes erecta or African marigolds are big, robust plants sometimes reaching 4' tall and can produce an almost woody trunk-like stem.