Ardent, bittersweet, true, the marigold lifts its bloom to the sun year round—its little lover, some call it.
In England, they were first called “golds.” In the Middle Ages, they came to adorn the Virgin Mary and afterward bore her name. “Open afresh your round of starry folds,” wrote Keats, “Ye ardent marigolds.”
In Victorian flower language, though, the marigold referred to grief or cruelty. Its botanical name, Calendula, means “a bloom a month.”