Calendula
$4.00
(Calendula officinalis)
Annual. My favourite flower for the vegetable garden, calendula is easily grown, whether direct-seeded or transplanted. Knee-high plants raise scores of cheerful, yellow or orange flowers above their leaves to attract every passing pollinator. We harvest and dry the flowers for two uses: they make a fine flavouring in soups and other dishes (turning them a pleasing yellow if you use enough) and they can be used to make a salve which we use for all minor injuries, eczema, and chapped, cracked skin. Once they start flowering (in July here) they will keep going until frost. Regular harvesting only makes them produce even more flowers. By the start of September I find that I have harvested all the flowers I could possible use, so I leave them to self-seed and come up again next year!
Their seedheads look really weird, by the way.
45 seeds/packet.
In stock
Self-seeding annual. Harvest flowers daily once they appear; the more you pick, the more they bloom. Dry indoors and pick off petals for salve and cooking. Stop harvesting in early September to let them go to seed.