Make Marigold Chains to Bring Summer Indoors All Year Long

Sunday, July 19, 2026

For anyone with a vegetable garden, planting marigolds is a win-win. Not only can you enjoy brilliantly yellow and/or orange blooms for months, the pungent oil in their leaves act as a natural pest deterrent, repelling insects like aphids and whiteflies, and their root systems suppress harmful root-knot nematodes. Plus they attract pollinators. They're an ideal companion plant to tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, basil, and peppers.

One year, I had such a riot of these sunny blooms that I decided to try preserving them in a marigold flower chain like the ones used to decorate Day of the Dead ofrendas in Mexico and to bedeck brides and grooms in South Asian wedding ceremonies. 

I got my boys to help me and we sat out on the picnic table with our needles, gently spearing flower after flower on two long lengths of thread.

When we'd strung all the flowers, we hung the garlands up to dry inside. They brought a little much-needed light into our home during the dark months of winter for a full two years before I finally took them down and laid them to rest in the compost. It was fun for the whole family and well worth the effort.

Materials: You will need shears or sharp scissors to snip the flowers off their plants, a strong needle, and some sturdy thread. 

  1. Pick the flowers. Cut only good-sized flowers that are in the prime of health.
  2. Prep the flowers. Use your scissors or shears to snip off the stems right at the base of the flower.
  3. String the flowers. Tie a large knot at the bottom of your thread (you can also use a bead to anchor it all if you like) and thread the other end through your needle. Pierce the needle through the middle of the green bottom of the flower head (the base) and bring it out through the top.
  4. Slide and repeat. Slide the flower down to the knot and continue adding blooms until the chain is your desired length
  5. Finish. Tie a loop on both ends so you can easily hang your finished garland over doorways or on walls.
  6. Hang up & enjoy! Hang the garland up somewhere dry that does not get a lot of direct sunlight where people can ooh and aah over it.

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Sunday, July 19, 2026

Make Marigold Chains to Bring Summer Indoors All Year Long

For anyone with a vegetable garden, planting marigolds is a win-win. Not only can you enjoy brilliantly yellow and/or orange blooms for months, the pungent oil in their leaves act as a natural pest deterrent, repelling insects like aphids and whiteflies, and their root systems suppress harmful root-knot nematodes. Plus they attract pollinators. They're an ideal companion plant to tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, basil, and peppers.

One year, I had such a riot of these sunny blooms that I decided to try preserving them in a marigold flower chain like the ones used to decorate Day of the Dead ofrendas in Mexico and to bedeck brides and grooms in South Asian wedding ceremonies. 

I got my boys to help me and we sat out on the picnic table with our needles, gently spearing flower after flower on two long lengths of thread.

When we'd strung all the flowers, we hung the garlands up to dry inside. They brought a little much-needed light into our home during the dark months of winter for a full two years before I finally took them down and laid them to rest in the compost. It was fun for the whole family and well worth the effort.

Materials: You will need shears or sharp scissors to snip the flowers off their plants, a strong needle, and some sturdy thread. 

  1. Pick the flowers. Cut only good-sized flowers that are in the prime of health.
  2. Prep the flowers. Use your scissors or shears to snip off the stems right at the base of the flower.
  3. String the flowers. Tie a large knot at the bottom of your thread (you can also use a bead to anchor it all if you like) and thread the other end through your needle. Pierce the needle through the middle of the green bottom of the flower head (the base) and bring it out through the top.
  4. Slide and repeat. Slide the flower down to the knot and continue adding blooms until the chain is your desired length
  5. Finish. Tie a loop on both ends so you can easily hang your finished garland over doorways or on walls.
  6. Hang up & enjoy! Hang the garland up somewhere dry that does not get a lot of direct sunlight where people can ooh and aah over it.

Want more recipes, green home, and gardening tips? Sign up for emails from The Garden of Eating.
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