How funny! I've always loved marigolds. They were the first plants. I remember as a child. Going to the farm with my dad. Those and petunias were the first flowers I remember. The smell of petunias brings it back to me!!! I also by the way love the smell of marigolds!!! Anyway when I was a teenager. This neighbor lady grew a bed of the tall marigolds. Had only seen the small bedding ones. I still remember to me how beautiful the bed looked. I'm not a grower/seller. Though I have a small garden. I've used marigold's in arrangements at home and work. I can't understand why people don't like them. To me their real backbone flowers. Very versatile:)

As long as there aren't a lot of weed seeds, it would make a perfectly fine mulch/amendment for your beds. It certainly breaks down and releases important elements back into the soil system. As a matter of fact, MOST of the minerals that are absorbed by our plants (including grass) are recyclable through leaf litter, clippings, etc. However, the grass clippings would make a better fertilizer if left on your lawn. If you're mowing frequently enough, you shouldn't see the first sign of grass build up after a mowing. And you could cut your fertilization in half. Lawns need that good stuff, too! ;-)

I like tithonia and other types of sunflowers, "love in a mist" which is a great early flowerer (then makes way for your later bloomers), cosmos - all good annuals. Great perennial cutters are the Becky Daisy as mentioned, and fall chrysantheums like Clara Curtis, Ryan's pink & yellow, also nice are kalimeris for fillers, asters of all kinds...perennial sunflowers, butterfly bush & vitex flowers, cannas, gingers, gardenias to float in bowls... There are all kinds, and may I know you already grow! GGG

I don't have all that large of a collection, but all of my plants were grown from cuttings and I do have a couple in flower. It seems to me that under good conditions with a good cutting, more vigorous species will bloom in just a couple months. I've seen: H. carnosa: 2 months from rooting to flower from a large cutting (2 ft of vine) with peduncles. I took a smaller cutting a (12in) few weeks ago and it rooted in days but has only just started sending out new growth, so it probably won't flower for another few months. H. chlorantha: About 4 months from rooting to flowering. It hasn't stopped flowering since it put out its first flush of peduncles in October. Here it is freshly potted after I received it (bottom): Here it is today: H. densifolia: Flowered in October about 4 months after rooting. This one seems to like aborting its flower buds, and will drop them at the slightest disturbance. I have to keep it at the same moisture level for weeks to make the buds open. H. macgillivrayii: Only a month old and rooted from a small 2 node cutting, but is growing very fast (1-2cm per day) and has vines about 12 inches long now. H. onychoides: 1 month old, rooted from a 2 node leafless cutting and a stemless leaf. Growing very quickly (1-2cm per day). H. optimistic: 1 month old, grows at a moderate pace and put out a couple new leaves but hasn't done all that much since I got it. H. ariadna: 5 months old, grows fairly slowly (H. imperialis: 5 months old, only started putting out new leaves a month ago. Grows very slowly and hasn't really done much since I got it. It's put out 3 pairs of leaves and grown maybe an inch over the last 5 months. I'm hoping it'll speed up soon now that it's established and starting to grow. I've read before that most Hoyas won't flower until they've reached 3 feet or more in length. I think that the large flowered varieties are much less likely to flower within the first year or two.