416 · Mexican Tarragon

About this plant

Also called Mexican mint marigold, this is the low desert's answer to French tarragon, which hates our summers. Glossy leaves carry a sweet anise-tarragon flavor for chicken, fish, vinegars, and tea, and it throws small golden flowers in fall. A heat-tolerant perennial that thrives through blazing summers and dies back or slows in winter, then returns.

Planting it at home

When to plant out

Wait until after our last frost (about mid-February) and warm soil — usually March. Until then keep the pot in a sunny, sheltered spot and bring it in on cold nights.

Where

Containers, Garden beds, Xeriscape

Spacing

12"

Size

18–30"

Care

Sun

Full sun (6–8 h)

Water

Moderate; let topsoil dry

Feed

Light feeding only; too much fertilizer weakens the flavor (general guide).

Good to know

Grown from

Seed — sown by FHCG volunteers

Uses

Chicken, fish, vinegars, tea

Harvest

Snip sprigs

Life cycle

Perennial

Heirloom or hybrid

Heirloom — saved seeds grow true

Pollinators

Moderate — butterflies and songbirds; bees not named

Heat (our summer)

Moderate–High