Calendula

This will be one of the first plants I cover that is not considered a wild plant in North America but is instead mostly cultivated!

This is one of the easiest medicinal herbs to grow and I think it deserves a place in every North American garden or yard!

Let’s get into it.

Plant Profile:

Scientific Name: Calendula officinalis

Preferred Habitat: Not picky at all about soil type but will thrive best in moderate soil moisture.

Edible Parts: Flowers, buds, leaves

Distribution: Widely cultivated in Europe, North America, Eurasia, and parts of Africa as well as Some parts of South America.

Harvest Season: Early summer through frost (if you get a frost in your climate).

Medicinal Benefits:

• High in Antioxidants

• Anti-inflammatory

• Reduces oxidative stress

• Promotes wound and skin healing

• Extracts might kill certain cancer cells

• Oil is antifungal and antimicrobial

• Offers significant oral health (such as healing inflamed gums)

• Strengthens overall skin health

• May help regulate the menstrual cycle

• May reduce heart attack risk

• Relieves muscle soreness

Uses

That’s a ton of benefit from such a low-maintenance flower!

While you can make oils, extracts, tinctures, teas, salves, and lotions with calendula, you can also make desserts, syrups, breads, compound butters, and jelly with it, or throw it into salads, garnish meals, and add it to vegetable broths.

It really is a very versatile flower!

In the garden it acts as an incredible pollinator plant and is often added to fruit tree guilds.

I personally tend to scatter it and let it grow but I also like it near my tomatoes because it deters some pests (supposedly). This might actually be an area worth studying in your own garden if you feel so inclined, I’m an advocate of citizen science!

Growth Habits

Calendula is not picky about where it grows, it just prefers adequate moisture.

It also has a habit of self-sowing pretty easily which is great if you want to avoid replanting it every year!

In my garden it has bloomed into early November until there was a frost hard enough to kill it for the season which is something I appreciate in a flower because it means it blooms for a long period to feed the maximum amount of pollinators!

The other nice thing is that it is a great plant to practice seed-saving on if you’ve never done it! The petals will die off and the flower will fold inward. Once there is no green left in the flower center, simply crumble the folded bits into your hand and you have calendula seeds!

It should be noted that calendula also hybridizes fairly easily so if you want only one specific type, then keep them pretty far away from each other! I personally like it when several types mix and you can see slight variations over time.

Additional Information

Calendula is also known as the “pot marigold” despite not being very closely related to marigolds at all.

It is also known as “poor man’s saffron” because of the way people use the petals in cooking.

Another chance for personal experimentation is breeding new color variation into calendula! I think there’s a lot of opportunity here despite the cool variations that exist already.

Cultivars

Ok here’s my favorite part!

I have grown a few different cultivars and know people who have grown varieties I haven’t, so here’s a list including a lot of those:

• Orange King: A double-petaled variety in a vibrant orange

• Ivory Princess: A pastel cream with yellow blush and a dark center

• Strawberry Blonde: A cream flower with pink tinges and standard petal density

• Pink Surprise: A double-bloom orange-pink variety with beautiful gradient

• Playtime Mix: A mix of a few calendula varieties all in one packet

• Orange Flash: A pretty orange-cream variety with double blooms and dark centers

• Pacific Apricot Beauty: A gorgeous cream apricot color with double blooms

• Odessa Market: An orange heirloom with large petals and a dark center

There’s a lot out there, but honestly, it’s hard to go wrong with calendula!

NOTE: I might start switching up my maps in order to provide you all with more accurate data on where to find the plants we talk about. If that’s something you’d appreciate let me know in the comments!

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