Our Planting Methodology

The Marigold flower was first discovered growing wild in ancient Mexico by Cortez, who took seeds back to Spain. Devout Spaniards placed these flowers at the altar of the Virgin Mary—hence the name Mary’s Gold, which eventually became know as Marigold. They have become a symbol of friendship around the world.

The Marigold Mile plants Inca Marigolds. This variety was chosen for their size, sturdiness and hardiness. Each flower can reach up to 18 inches tall and 10 inches wide. The orange and yellow marigolds thrive in warm, sunny, well drained areas. Prior to planting, Outagamie County bio-solids are tilled into the 12 inch wide boulevards as a top dressing to add fertilizer and soften up the soil.

In our design, we plant them as seedlings one foot apart in two rows alternating the colors. It is best if we have at least 3 or 4 volunteers to start this process. One person will drill with an auger attached to a cordless drill, up to 5 inches down to mark where the flower is to be planted. The holes are drilled to add more ground up soil to pat around each flower.

After 100 or more holes in 2 rows are drilled, one volunteer will take a flat of yellow marigolds and place 2 of them, one in the top row, and one in the bottom row. Then skip two holes and place two more, so on and so forth. Likewise, another volunteer will take a flat of orange marigolds and place them in skipped holes. More volunteers will begin planting the flowers into their holes. One key to their sturdiness is the depth at which we plant the flowers. We plant each flower at least one inch deeper that the dirt ball at the base of the flower. Roots will grow up the stem to add more strength to keep this flower upright. A tomato plant will do the same thing. Planting the flowers is almost like an assembly line. The person drilling the holes must keep up with everyone else until all the flats are planted.

The final tasks are clean up of the sidewalk/curb and watering the flowers. After the flowers are planted, a volunteer will sweep the dirt from the curb and sidewalk back into the boulevard. And another volunteer will carefully water the newly planted flowers in. Water is needed for the flowers at least once a week either by Mother Nature or by volunteers. The volunteers usually work for about 2 hours a day. Depending on the number of volunteers that come out, we might plant 800 flowers in that 2 hour span.