The Sunshine of Calendula

I know I rave on about calendula, (Calendula officinalis) also known as pot marigold, but I just LOVE this plant. It's an edible flower, an herb, and an ornamental. The blooms below are all in one spot in my garden; they reseeded from last year. I simply watch for them in the spring and thin them out as needed. The only trick to calendula is deadheading them every few days until fall, then let them form the seeds on the plant where they can dry. It's VERY obvious when they are dry, so you can just grab and scatter or let them do it naturally. If you want to share with friends or use them in a seed swap, then remove the seeds when they are brown and dry, then place them in envelopes. The deadheading really is important though if you want to keep them blooming until frost. I just grab and pinch off the stem with my fingernails. The colors are sometimes soft, other times unbelievably bright. The centers vary too as you can see in the pictures. I've promised myself this year to actually harvest some of the blooms to use as herbs. I will post in the blog when I do, with details.









~Brenda