Marsh marigold (Caltha palustris) is a native North American perennial that brings brilliant, shiny yellow flowers to wet places where most garden plants struggle. Despite its common name, it's not related to marigolds at all, but belongs to the buttercup family, and its glossy blooms emerging in spring are unmistakably its own. Hardy in zones 3 through 7, this rhizomatous perennial thrives in marshes, stream margins, and boggy soils, growing 12 to 18 inches tall and wide. It flowers from April through June with showy blooms that brighten the waterside garden, and it asks little in return: just consistent moisture and low maintenance.
15
Partial Sun
Moderate
3-7
18in H x 18in W
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Moderate
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Marsh marigold's glossy yellow flowers are utterly distinctive, nothing like the daisy-faced marigolds you might expect from its misleading common name. The plant is naturally at home in wet, boggy soils where few ornamentals will grow, making it invaluable for rain gardens, pond margins, and wet meadows. It tolerates heavy shade and clay soil with equal grace, deer won't touch it, and it spreads slowly via rhizomes to naturalize across damp ground. In hot summer climates, plants may go dormant mid-season, a quirk worth anticipating if you're in zones with intense heat.
Marsh marigold is grown as a native ornamental, most often naturalized along the margins of ponds and water gardens, in rain gardens designed to capture and filter runoff, and in boggy, moist areas where it can spread slowly to form colonies. It is occasionally used as a culinary or medicinal herb, though this is not its primary purpose in contemporary gardening.
No timeline data available yet for this variety.
Transplant in spring or early fall into consistently moist or wet soil at pond margins or in boggy areas. Space plants 12 to 18 inches apart to account for their mature spread.
May be grown from seed, sown directly in moist to wet soil in early spring.
Cut back old fronds in late winter prior to the emergence of new growth in spring.
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“Marsh marigold is native across North America, from Newfoundland to Alaska and south through the Great Plains to Nebraska, Tennessee, and North Carolina, where it has grown in marshes, swamps, and wet meadows for millennia. Its presence along stream margins and in open wetlands made it a familiar sight to Indigenous peoples and early settlers alike. Today it remains one of the finest native plants for restoring wet habitats and for gardeners seeking to reconnect with the flora of their region.”