Calendula

Calendula officinalis, commonly known as pot marigold, is as Asteraceae family plant with deep roots in Appalachian medicine and much deeper roots in Eastern Medicinal circles. We started these young beauties from seed in the greenhouse this year and put them out in the ground only when they were well established. They have remained a little leggy and probably should have been transplanted sooner but they are flowering and seem to be growing well.

Growing calendula has been easy in our experience. AJ intends to cultivate these flowering plants to see if we can stimulate production of more flowers while preserving the ecological balance required for calendula to thrive. We also intend to interplant other local native species between the calendula flowers, we just haven’t gotten around to it yet. In the meantime, some other species have found their way to our plants. Check out this bee collecting pollen for her personal pantry.

Calendula officinalis is in the Asteraceae family along with many other favorites like Oxeye Daisy and Echinacea. One of the defining characteristics of this family of plants is the simultaneous “two-part” and “multi-part” nature of the flowers. Looking at the photo above, the “petals” ( gracefully curving yellow blades with wavy-cut ends ), are actual each their own flower. The center disk is also made up of hundreds of individual flowers.

See you soon!