Rewilding My Lot

In Houston, I had a pot of Mexican Mint Marigold (Tagetes lucida), which I brought to Seguin when I moved. It’s a plant that is native to Mexico and Central America, and which has adapted well to Texas. The leaves have a fragrance similar to tarragon and anise, and other names for this plant include Spanish Tarragon, Texas Tarragon, and Mexican Tarragon.

A few weeks ago I thought that my plant looked rather crowded in its pot, so I pulled it out, divided it into two, put one half back in the pot and the other half in the ground.

The tall stems died back in our recent freeze, but there is new growth coming from the roots in both the potted (above photo) and in-ground (below photo) versions here. It will be interesting to see which does better. On the whole, I prefer to have plants in the ground rather than in pots, so that their roots can grow as far as they want. But this plant happened to be in a pot because I thought that it might deter mosquitos on my Houston patio (it didn’t).