Human Flower Project

David Moffitt:  Marigold Missionary

One raised bed, one overheard conversation, and a New York man spreads doughnut-sized marigolds across the land.

Barb and Dave Moffitt of Cortland, NY, and the ‘donor bed’
that launched 2000 marigold seed packets
Photo: Courtesy David Moffett
“The purpose of the raised beds was originally for vegetables to sell on our stand, but I gave into my wife’s desire for flowers.”

Just that little slip and David Moffitt shot himself out of a cannon, instigating a nationwide human flower project that’s clearly caught the seat of his pants on fire. (See that streak of marigold-orange?)

Moffitt and his wife, Barb, live in Cortland, New York, and belong to plantcycle,  an Ottawa, Ontario, based group that exchanges plants, seeds, gardening tools and tips. There’s only one hitch: “Everything Must be Free!” In other words, David was wise to seed swapping and passalong plants when his marigold opportunity arrived.

His first seed “came from a little old lady who didn’t have a garden anymore,” David writes. The woman had moved to the same retirement home where David’s parents live, bringing the seed of “Colossal marigold” flowers with her. “She tried to persuade the building owners to plant them in the front of the building for her and all the other tenants to enjoy, but because they had the landscape already finished,” they refused.

After hearing Dave’s parents talk about their son “who has gone plumb crazy with gardening on a city plot,” the woman “decided that she needed to give me her seeds, so she could visit them on occasion.”

“The original packet contained nearly 125 seeds, and I planted them all, right down the middle of a 20 foot bed,” he says. “I thought the “Colossal” part was funny, because I’d only ever grown the smaller French Marigolds in the past.  When these marigolds started growing, I was overjoyed.  They were very hardy looking and began blooming very small.” By that he means when the plants were very small. The flowers were, in a word, colossal, yellow and orange, three to five inches across.

‘Colossal Marigolds’
can be yours
Photo: David Moffitt

As the plants grew bigger and wider, Moffitt had to make room in his garden: “I started pulling them out, and putting them into planter pots.  Then I listed them on our local Re-Use It Network site and just started giving them away, planter, flower, and precious dirt.” He kept passing along marigolds throughout the summer, all but 10 plants. “Four or five of those were moved mid-summer, so I could find my cucumbers and peppers!” At first the transplants looked sickly but “by mid-September, they began to thrive.”

David doesn’t know the name of the woman who sent him the seed. Nor does he know “if that nice little old lady has been by my house to see the plants, but I am sure that unless she became a recluse, she has recognized them all over our neighborhood. Most everyone took two or three plants, and put them in their front yards.” Moffitt learned that they were also saving seed and passing it on to family members, friends and other neighbors.

He then discovered that the major seed companies don’t offer anything like this huge variety of marigold. “The plants reach about 2 feet tall and bloom all summer long,” he says. “I decided that these seeds had some value in them.”

In October, marigold fever emboldened Moffitt to begin his own chapter of Plantcycle and to become a seed-packet producer. “The seeds seemed to be a good way to introduce my local group. I made homemade seed packets (460 cut outs), and found that they just wouldn’t work.  So I contacted Global Industrial and ordered 2,000 manila money sized envelopes.  Then I did some research and found that Uline.com could supply me with Laser Labels at a reasonable price.  I received my orders, and began printing custom made labels.”

After labeling the first 500 packets, he went to bed. Barb couldn’t sleep that night. Finding the packets and seeds, she started filling and sealing the envelopes.  “By the time I woke for work, she had filled all 500, thinking that was all we had,” David reports.

Returning from work that evening, Moffitt got started on the next 500 packets. His wife “was curious as why I did that, thinking all were packed and ready to go.  I took a dishpan out to our green house, and after about an hour came back in with it full of seeds.  If looks could kill!”

By the end of the next week, the Moffitts had 1,000 packets of colossal marigold seed ready to mail. In accordance with seed swap protocol, they advertised online – anyone who would send them a self-addressed stamped envelope (S.A.S.E.) could get free marigold seeds.

In the first week they received requests from gardeners all over the U.S. “but none locally.  I joked with friends about starting the Marigolds Across America Campaign,” says David. “That lit up a little bulb in me, and I thought why not?  What better way to spend the winter months, than to mail pretty flower seeds all over”

Moffitt now has a web page where he’s keeping a public record of where all his seeds have flown. Check it out here along with his disclaimer: “This is a
non-political, non-religious - beautification project!”

The Moffitts grew their passalong marigolds from seed in a raised bed
Photo: Courtesy David Moffitt

Are you ready to commit to colossal marigolds? Here are David’s pitch and simple instructions:

“The blooms (yellow or orange - we mixed the seeds) are 3 - 5 inches wide. They flower all summer long, right up to a good hard frost.  In the southern areas, they may be classified as a perennial, though Marigolds are always listed as an annual.  The seeds can be winter sown anytime after the winter solstice (Dec. 21st), but they do best sown in early spring, when the soil is workable.

“When each flower dies, and just before they turn brown, they can be removed from the plant; trim off the colored part of the petals, and store them in a dry airy place until they become brittle.  Then the seeds can be easily removed and shared with many friends and neighbors.  Each flower contains about 50 - 70 seeds. One individual plant will be enough to fill about 200 packets of seeds, with each packet containing about 20 - 30 seeds.  That is potentially 57 flowers per plant throughout the whole growing season, with many in bloom at the same time.”

“Marigolds do not require any special attention, other than dead-heading the spent flowers.  They like full sun, but grow nearly as well in partial shade.  I have had some that have grown great in indirect sunlight (the only light they received was reflected off of another light colored surface).”

Put on your crash helmet, climb into the cannon and send your self-addressed stamped envelope to

Marigolds Across America
58 East Court Street
Cortland, NY 13045

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