Pot marigold

This is a favourite cottage garden flower and culinary herb that has become a popular plant for bedding and to provide bright splashes of colour in flower borders. There is a wide choice of colours, based around the yellow and orange spectrum, and forms from simple semi-double to fully double with prominently crested centres. 'Fiesta Gitana' is one of the most popular dwarf varieties, more compact than the species and earlier to flower (especially if sown in autumn or under glass), with yellow and orange double blooms. The Royal Horticultural Society has given it its prestigious Award of Garden Merit (AGM).