Well! Moving is really, really hard, isn’t it? My younger kids can make messes faster than I can unpack and put things away. It feels a little like a race, and not the fun kind. My odds of winning are pretty slim.
If you could see the mountain of laundry that has accumulated over the past week, you would maybe pat me on the back and sigh, “Oh, Ginny.” And then you’d run.
So, the only logical thing to do right now is talk about marigolds.
Do you like them? Let’s take a poll! I haven’t always. I used to hate the smell and the look of them. I thought they were boring. In recent years I changed my mind on both counts, and that was even before I dyed yarn and silk with them. I love marigolds!
I planted mine late, and they had only just started blooming in abundance when the frost came to wipe them out. Silas, Job, and I were ready the day before, and picked as many as were there. I’ve been simmering and dyeing with them all week, a welcome break from the work of moving.
I love marigolds. As a kid they were somehow connected to my grandmother. I guess she had a lot of them in the garden and I just don’t remember well. Today I grow them in our garden and I love the strong colours of yelloww, orange and red.
I did not know that you can use them as a dye.
Just knowing that marigolds are strengthening you for the labor of moving house makes me feel more kindly toward them.
My husband and I met working at a park on the Canadian border where I dead headed thousands of marigolds, petunias and salvias. I vowed that I would never plant a marigold in my own garden because of the way they smelled to me. Then a few years passed and one of my grandpa’s passed away. It was hard not to notice the spray of flowers chosen for his casket–oranges, yellows, some brown. My grandma asked me after his service if I had noticed the flowers she had chosen to honor grandpa. I found out then that grandpa’s favorite flowers were those orange/rust marigolds and that each spring he planted them on their windowsill for my grandma to transplant later into the garden. Since then I have a fondness for (yellow) marigolds and think of him.
I’ve always liked marigolds, though I don’t like how they smell!
Your photos make them look gorgeous!!
I like them, always have?
Love the smell and the color and the robustness or marigolds.
And I am amused that you’d start a “messy project” like that while moving. Just the sort of thing I’d do – that makes my husband crazy.
Marigolds are so simple that they get underrated. They are a wonderful dye plant and so easy to grow. I used to have my biology students start marigolds from seeds about the end of March so they would have something to give their mother’s on Mother’s Day. It was amazing to me how few students had ever got their fingers dirty or grew anything. Being that the kids parents were in the military it might have had something to do with moving often and not having a ‘place’ of their own. The moving never gets easier. It does help if you do it every few years as you will have collected fewer things between moves. We’ve done our last as we retired from being overseas last year after 30 years, 3 countries and 5 different bases. 🙂 Things will get done/unpacked eventually.
I love Marigolds! They were the first flowers I grew when I was a child. My cousin gave me seeds from her marigolds and from then on I grew them beside our front door. I would save the seeds from year to year. Good memories!
well, Ginny— I love to do laundry and I wish the distance between Idaho and VA was not so great that I couldn’t just come give you a day of laundry labor. It would be a pleasure to give you something back for the joy your blog and photos add to life!
Wow! I’ve never seen such prolific marigolds. Mine always grow in such pathetic clumps (maybe I need to move east of the Mississippi). I’m not crazy about the smell, but marigolds (like dandelions) have such a happy look and yellow is my favorite flower color.
I thought of you and your yarn dyeing yesterday when I was making jelly from our red/purple grapes. After I was done straining the juice in cheesecloth, I marveled at the pretty color/stain left behind on the cloth. I wondered if people, specifically you, used grapes as yarn dye.
I never really ‘got’ marigold either until I started growing them from seed. Before we had always bought big box 6-packs of them and the never grew that well. From seed though they grow huge and full of flowers. Last year I grew bright yellow ones and the dye from that was completely different from the reddish ones I grew this year. Such beautiful dyes. Good luck with all the laundry! Oy, I better get a load started myself here…
Marigold smell has a happy memory for me. I remember being little, helping my dad in the garden. When I smell them it makes me remember summer nights watching him work, and also the smell of japanese beetles and those little collection bags we had in the yard. those
I’m not actually a fan of marigolds and only ever planted them around my tomato plants to ward off the things that liked to eat them. But looking at your plot of marigolds planted in bunches like has me changing my mind on the matter.
I agree about the smell…I do like it now! I plant the orange stripey ones. In fact, just yesterday I collected tons of seeds to bring with me for next year’s big move! (To VA, so I’m glad to see marigolds are happy there too. ) 🙂
I’ve always liked marigolds. So that’s my vote. 🙂
I love French marigolds with the dark, dark orange bits.
I’ve recently started a new job so I haven’t been online much in the past couple of months. I’ve always looked forward to your posts and have been following you since the beginning. Seriously, you are the only blogger I follow and it sounds kind of creepy to admit it, but I find such peace in your photos and blog posts. I don’t knit, dye or do much crafting at all and I am not religious in any way but I have 5 children whom we homeschool and I’ve had a dream of adopting one day. I finally have a few days off so I had to check out what’s new in Ginny’s life and you didn’t disappoint. Enjoy your new place. It looks beautiful even as I am saddened over you leaving the old. I don’t do well with change. :-)You have a wonderful gift of connecting with readers and I love your subtle sense of humor. Thank you for blogging,
Denise
I used to dislike marigolds as well, but in the past few years, found myself really falling in love with them, after planting them for insect control. Moving is such a big shift, especially with little ones. It seems like dying things such a beautiful yellow is a perfect break. 🙂
Hugs!
We are an ex military family and moving has always been part of the game. I’m so sick of moving. This past year we sold ourhome we couldn’t afford now that he’s out. We camped all summer. We had been searching for a farm for years. No luck. A trailer. Single wide. With 4 kids and one on the way. we moved in late July 5is here now. It’s hard. Still looking for land. I’m so ready to be settled down and not move any more. I’m 34. I’m done. Tired of moving. I pray you have a smooth transition. God bless you! Enlist those big ones to help!
I love marigolds. they make a beautiful and reliable dye. But I missed something…..Where are you moving??
What a lovely color! I like marigolds enough to line the border of my herb garden with them each season.
marigold is such a cheery flower. when my kids were in first grade they grew marigold seeds in a paper cup in order to give them as surprise Mother’s day presents. they are such an easy flower to grow. I planted seeds I saved from last year and 3 packets of seeds I bought they are still going strong in our cabin garden despite the frosts we have had. before we left last week I raked up some leaves and placed them around the base of the plants hoping they might keep blooming until I return. When I collect the flower blossoms for dyeing I cut the petals off with a pair of scissors leaving the lower part of the bloom on the plant so the seeds develop and dry. sometimes I freeze those petals if I am unable to dye right away. but last week I picked them and put them in a shallow box and every morning I have been putting them in the sun to dry and will use them for dyeing this winter.
I have learned to appreciate marigolds more as the years go by. Yesterday I saw a wreath made of them. You hot glue them on a grapevine wreath and they just dry there and the wreath can last several years if carefully handled. I think I will plant them next year just so that I can make a wreath.
What a cheerful color!!!! Blessings to you as you move and settle in. Laundry- I actually dream about mine. Two nights ago I dreamt that I was frantically running around the house trying to find all the laundry… every last hidden sock or towel…. when I brought the piles to the laundry room, I was overjoyed to find two washers and two dryers! My dreams are certainty odd. I should have been dreaming of marigolds!! Ha!!
We’ve been married almost six years and we average moving homes every year… But this is the first house we have owned not rented so hopefully we will stay a while. Though with an 18 month old, twins on the way that will put us at capacity, and little storage, we will see! Blessings on your move!
We moved last April and I made myself a promise not to move again the next 20 years. That must give the children enough time to go and live on their own.
I am not very fond of marigolds but I love the dyed yarn. Your dyeworks do give me inspiration to get my hands on natural dyeing myself.
Beautiful marigolds! Still praying for your move, for peace and joy in the chaos.
We moved in April and are still unpacking, painting renovation. And we have “only” 2 young children. It help me to think this will be our permanent home, we have time to do things… and ideas of how to decorate, organise things need to develop, too. It takes time, take that time.
Love your blog, always feel inspired by it.
Blessings, Dorothee from Sweden
I love marigolds – they’re so cheerful!
Breathe in, breathe out… moving isn’t fun, but there’s no deadline for being settled, right?
Blessings to you!!
I love them! I don’t think I always did, but I seem to have lost those braincells, so I can’t remember! I especially love the color they make as a dye, I had no idea! You have inspired me this summer with all of your dying fun….now I want to try some of my own! You should totally write a book about dying with plants (in all of your spare time 🙂 ) Best of luck with the move. Sometimes some fun & color is just the ticket to keeping your sanity.
thank you for the short and sweet post. i can’ t decide yet, i just don’t know if i like them as much, that i would plant… though just this past week, i caught myself pondering about having marygolds next summer…. the more i think the more clear the idea is now growing on me! thank you ginny
Love marigolds! Remind me of my childhood — the thing my mother let me plant and care for on my own {and I felt like an ace saving seeds and planting them the following spring 😉 }. The more simple varieties are a wildlife magnet – and with light pruning through the season, will give and give until the first frost 🙂 Did I mention, they are the ones that thrive when I forget to water in the long, hot summer sun! What’s not to love?
I love marigolds–the smell and the look. Have you strung them as a flower garland (like in India)? So vibrant and lovely. As a kid, I loved pulling marigolds apart, as the seeds release from the flower in a very satisfying way.
Congratulations on the house. And yes, moving… ugh. We still have boxes in the garage from three years ago. Part of me wants to just pass them along unopened, not remembering what’s inside. The sentimental odd-bird in me simply cannot resist hanging onto them for “someday”. (WHY??) Oh well. God bless you all in this new chapter and under this new roof!
Dear Ginny,
Like one of your other readers exclaimed out loud when she read your news that you guys moved- I did the same thing and my husband is like ‘who moved?’ And I say ‘You know …Ginny! Our friend in the blog o sphere that we try not to feel weird that we count as a friend even though we have never met! Anyways, yes moving is brutal. We barely survived ours last May and I am still buried without routines but life with seven children keeps on going no matter where we are living or how we are feeling.
I love marigolds- and actually love the deep earthy smell. But I grew up with them – -and would sit in my mom’s garden and pick their heads off and inhale their scent! Ha! I love your dying projects. Hang in there during these days- you are not alone. Congratulations on your new, larger home. God will find you there and bless you. ?
HaHa – My husband gave me this blank, odd stare when I told him Ginny moved… I do feel as if this family are my friends…even though they wouldn’t know me from Adam! 🙂
I ‘d like you to know I wouldn’t just pat you on the back, I’d pitch in and do the laundry for you! Unpacking is not really something you can do for someone else, but laundry? Oh yeah.
Here’s really neat part: every one of your readers would do the same thing. ?
I read once that marigolds are Mary’s golden crown encircling the earth, and I’ve loved them since then! What a beautiful yellow you got from them!
Just gorgeous sunshine on the silks and yarns. My family moved from our first home of 23 years over the last 2 months. It sounds like you have some time to completely move out before you sell your “old” home as well, such a blessing! I will keep you in my prayers as I continue to unload boxes from years of family collecting!
Oh gracious. Moving IS hard. My favorite (kid) innovation when unpacking is to box off an area and throw all the paper in to make a paper pit for kids to roll around in and jump into. It’s like a contained mess. My littles loved it last time we moved. The marigold play silks & yarn are lovely!! I like marigolds’ appearance but not their smell. :-/
they are beautiful!!! Moving is super hard. Praying for you, said an extra prayer for you tonight at our family prayer time…. I think making something creative and being connected to the things that give you joy and are a good coping mechanism is a good move. lots of love! a hug and another prayer…
Love that yellow! My dad plants them nearly every year, and they sure remind me of my childhood too.
I hope all your animals were able to move with you, and what about those gorgeous outbuilidngs and hives? Do you have land where you are?
I love the smell – it reminds me of being a little girl in the garden, and my grandfather showing me how to collect the seeds from the dried-up blossoms so that we could re-plant them the next year. You know that aroma is why marigolds are used on Dia de los Muertos, right? It’s supposed to be strong enough to guide the spirits of your loved ones home again. Unpacking will happen – meanwhile, it’s good to see you taking time for creative ventures. 🙂
We grew a TON of marigolds a few years ago from a dollar store seed packet – since then, I’ve always made sure to plant plenty of marigolds or zinnias or type of flower that blooms in abundance, because being able to have the kids cut or pick as many flowers as they’d like is *magical* and I love it! I never knew how TALL marigolds could grow, though – they ended up 3 or 4 feet high!
The silks and yarn are gorgeous! I tend to dive into creative projects when I should be doing everything but that. It’s a coping mechanism. Thinking of you and hoping you are settling in.
Love the bright yellow! I just started experimenting with marigold dyeing and it’s been so fun, but also quite surprising. My first skein came out bright green and then I finally got some beautiful golds.
I need to delve into the science of it all.
Yes. Moving is the worst thing EVER. We have lived in 7 different homes in 17 years and each move is a bit more chaotic than the last—even though I promise myself it won’t be. Well, I think we are never moving again. ☺️
Oh the color of that silk is stunning. Yellow is my youngest son’s favorite color.
Oh yes, moving is so hard! When we moved,I took all our laundromat and had it all done in two hours. It cost a bit more, but was so worth it! I can’t wait to see how the merigold dye turns out.
I’m not fond of the smell of marigolds either, but I do plant several dozen every year. I plant them in with my tomatoes — they repel tomato worms!
Gorgeous, Ginny! What a beautiful yellow. I just moved in August and completely sympathize. I am still not settled. We are in the process of remodeling the house, so there are boxes everywhere as we work on empty rooms. Oh, soon, I keep telling myself. I was hoping it would be done by Christmas, but for some reason, Advent is just around the corner.