Calendula Love

I’ve been in love with Calendula for as long as I can remember.  It’s one of the first seeds I ever planted and was thrilled at how many came up.  Way back then my motto must have been ‘No Seedling Left Behind’ because I planted them EVERYWHERE!   In a few weeks our herb garden, flower beds, veggie garden and any other bare spot was awash with intense colors of bright cheery yellow and traffic- stopping neon orange.  I couldn’t have been more pleased.  The bright blooms attracted all kinds of beneficial insects and their bright colors made me smile.

I had read how wonderful Calendula was as an all purpose skin healing plant and was used to heal cuts, rashes, chapped skin, and eczema.  How it’s dried petals could be added to a bath and also made a terrific hair rinse!  Was there anything this sweet little plant couldn’t cure?  I decided it was my duty to save every blossom and dry them for some kind of use later on!

Have I mentioned that I can be a bit obsessive? We had drying racks everywhere and by the end of the summer I had burned myself out on drying anything else.  It literally took a couple of years for us to use up my supply of dried blooms.  I still plant it every year, (I really can’t imagine our garden without it) but now I realize I only need to dry a bit.  Anything else results in over-kill and plain silliness on my part.  This year we grew Triangle Flashback & Neon.  Both are equally gorgeous.

None of this is poor Calendula’s fault.  It really is an amazing little plant and I hope you all plant some.   It’s just happy to bloom wherever you plant it and be used however you see fit.  We can all learn a lot from that:).