Mexican Tarragon

Other common names: Sweetscented Marigold, Sweet-scent Marigold, Sweet-scent Mexican Marigold, Mexican Mint Marigold, Spanish Tarragon, Winter Tarragon, Mexican Tarragon, Texas Tarragon, Sweet Mace

Mexican tarragon is a free-flowering herb that has edible flowers and leaves. Flowers are eaten raw in salads, and leaves are cooked with eggs or fish.

A perennial herb, Mexican Tarragon can be used as part of an herb border.

Sun and soil needs:

This plant thrives in 6 or more hours of direct sunlight, or 6-8 hours of indirect sunlight.

Plants do best in pots with loamy soil at least 15cm deep, or in true ground. These plants are vulnerable to root rot, so ensure that your pots drain well, and that your soil has plenty of organic matter to let the roots breathe.

Growing:

Mexican tarragon are rapid growers and benefit from regular hard pruning to promote additional leaf growth. Fertilising the plant with high nitrogen fertilisers after pruning will encourage the plant to bounce back.

Harvesting:

The plant can be harvested for young leaves via the cut-and-come-again-method at any time.

Propagation:

Mexican tarragon are generally propagated via stem cuttings rooted in water or soil as the plant does not fruit readily in the tropics.

Common problems & solutions:

This plant is relatively resistant to pests and disease if kept healthy.

If your plant has few to no flowers, you can fertilise the plant with fertilisers high in phosphorus and potassium, which encourages root and flower growth.

The plant tends to get leggy with age. Prune the plant down and fertilise with a high nitrogen fertiliser encourage bushiness.

Aphids, mealy bugs, whiteflies, and spider mites often infest the plant if it has underlying problems like repeated wilting from heat stress. Mechanical pest control methods like pruning the infested parts are the best methods for managing these pests in the short term, but resolving the underlying problem will prevent them in the long term.