THE RESULTS OF TAGETES L. CULTIVARS INTRODUCTION IN DIFFERENT CLIMATIC ZONES

Marigold cultivars, also known as annual marigold and saffron, are an integral component of formal flower beds, for which high-quality seedlings are grown in protected soil. At the same time, in various climatic zones, cultivars capable of creating a decorative effect (even during spring sowing directly into the ground), are being selected. Cultivars created on the basis of Tagetes erecta, Tagetes patula, and Tagetes tenuifolia species are model objects in the training of landscape architects and their projects for undergraduate and graduate studies – fragments of these works are included in this paper. The research was conducted in the sharply continental climate of Mezhdurechensk and in the continental climate of Novosibirsk. We also recommended this crop for study and description by schoolchildren attending biology electives. The paper presents data collected by students in the temperate continental climate of the south-east of the Republic of Tatarstan. In the conditions of Mezhdurechensk, located in the subzone of the southern taiga, with high humidity and lack of sunlight, only a seedling crop of marigold is recommended; its flowering in midSeptember is usually interrupted by frosts. In the vicinity of Almetyevsk (village Aktyubinskiy), the conditions of the growing season are the most favorable for sowing the marigolds into the ground. The achenes of all the studied cultivars are black with a tuft at the end, narrow, long (about 1 cm), and large enough to allow students to carry out high-quality sowing. The height and width of the bush in the cultivars at all introduction points were highly equalized (variation coefficient from 5.02 to 9.08 %), with the exception of the thin-leaved marigold ‘Gnome’ (11.95 %). The most variable was the number of flowers (inflorescencesbaskets) per bush (variation coefficient from 10.71 to 21.54 %). Large spectacular inflorescences were formed in the cultivars created on the basis of Aztec marigold ‘Taishan Yellow’ (9.15 ±0.16 cm) and ‘Orangeprinz’ (9.30 ±0.16 cm). For spring sowing in the ground when creating flower beds, in which the decorative effect is important in the second half of summer, we also recommend common zinnia (Zinnia elegans) and narrowleaf zinnia (Z. angustifolia). Being representatives of the Asteraceae family, they perfectly match any marigolds in the structure of the inflorescence and colour scheme.