It’s easy to grow calendula in the garden for it’s medicinal benefits! I would even dare say calendula is quite possibly the easiest flower to grow from seed! It’s the beginning of April and that means it’s calendula season here in California. Blooms are lining walkways, empty fields and perfectly curated gardens are putting on a show. Calendulas will grow anywhere they have a little.. and I mean a LITTLE of what they need. Looking at their delicate petals you wouldn’t think they would be such hardy plants! Keep reading to learn how amazing this plant is and how to grow it in your garden!
Grow Calendula for it’s medicinal benefits
When growing Calendula for it’s medicinal benefits the variety we need is Calendula officinalis it’s part of the Asteraceae family. Sometimes known as pot marigold, it comes in gorgeous shades of orange, yellow and peach!
Calendula is commonly found in facial and skin products because of its soothing, hydrating and protectant qualities! Its loaded up on good things but gentle enough to be used on sensitive skin as well!
It can be used topically in: salves, tinctures, oils and creams. Also can be taken orally in form of tea to help with a variety of ailments.
Inside these pretty flowers is a powerhouse of benefits! Which include: a potent blend of antimicrobial, antiviral, antibacterial properties. One of the components that makes it so beneficial is the high concentration of flavonoids that give this plant its anti-inflammatory advantage.
That aid in healing and soothing the following:
- Diaper Rash
- Wounds
- Burns
- Skin conditions such as eczema, rosacea, breakouts
- Dry skin
- Scalp irritation/ dandruff
- Bug bites
- fever reduction
- stomach ulcers
- gum inflammation/oral health
The list goes on and on! All in all it one rockstar of a herb to have around!
Calendula growing guide
Growing calendula in the garden has other advantages as well! It attracts many beneficial insects to the garden like lady bugs, butterflies, lacewing, and pollinators love the blooms! Often times calendula is used like a trap crop for aphids, thrips and whiteflies. It’s a good idea to keep extra plants around the garden to help with pest management.
If you’re in a mild zone it can be grown fall-spring. Plants can survive down to 25 F degrees and begin to dwindle down once the temperatures are over 85 F degrees. Calendula plants can be grown in containers, garden beds anywhere you have extra space! Mature plants can get 18-24 inches tall. This is one of those plants that once established it will re-seed year after year giving you effortless blooms in the garden.
Seed Starting– Seeds can be directly sown outdoors in the fall if you are in a mild winter. Or in early spring they prefer cooler spring days and will begin to die back when the summer heat is too intense.
Sun-requirements– Calendulas will grow in part shade and full sun
Watering- Moderate watering and can handle a bit of drought.
Soil– Although they do appreciate a good quality soil. Calendula seems to thrive even in poor clay soil around here! Use what you have around.
Pruning- Harvest calendula flowers at their peak bloom time. Harvesting often will encourage new flower buds to form, ensuring you have flowers all season.
Seed-collecting- leave some spent blooms behind on the plant to dry. Once completely dry you will see the middle of the flower will be full of “C” shape seeds that can be stored in cool dry place for next years garden or to share!
How to use our homegrown calendula?
So you grew calendula how do you use it?
Once your plant is mature what holds all the benefits is the flower. When flowers appear begin harvesting blooms and set aside to dry. You want to keep the green part underside the flower & the center as well. If you have a dehydrator you can go ahead and use it. I don’t own one, so what I do is place my blooms in a basket to dry on my kitchen counter (you can cover with a thin paper towel if you’d like) It takes blooms about a week to dry out. Once dry you can store them in a sealed jar, these can be used for tea & calendula infused oil that we can later use to make our own salve.
Calendula blooms stored for more than 6 months begin to lose their potency. It’s best to replenish our stash every season.
Calendula infused oil
Currently I have enough blooms to start an infused calendula oil. Like I said this is the first step towards making my own salve. So I will share how I did it, it’s honestly quite simple! 🙂
For my calendula infused oil, I filled up a quart mason jar 3/4 way with dried calendula blooms and filled it to the top with Extra Virgen olive oil. The oil needs 4-6 weeks to infuse. It will be sitting in my cupboard and I will give it a good shake every few days.
Note: If you will be using the oil on your face choose a carrier oil that is non comedogenic such as grapeseed oil, jojoba oil, almond oil are a few good ones.
Once our oil is completely infused it needs to be strained. At this point the oil can be used as is and stored (amber glass bottles will help it keep longer) My goal with this oil is to make into a salve we can have on hand to use topically for cuts, bug bites and dry hands!
Calendula salve
This salve is thick and extra moisturizing with the addition of shea butter!
After the oil of your choice has been infused for 4-6 weeks it is ready to be used to make salve.
For this process I used:
8 Tablespoons beeswax
2 cups infused calendula oil
4 Tablespoons shea butter
*optional essential oil of your choice to add scent
Directions: melt beeswax using a double boiler method on medium heat (essentially bringing a pot of water to a boil and placing a heat resistant bowl over ) once melted add in shea butter and calendula oil.
Turn off heat as soon as its all melted, we don’t want to burn off all the good properties
Place melted salve mixture into desired containers. Cover containers after mixture is completely set and cool. If stored in a cool dry place these can last for years. Discard if you notice a foul smell.
I hope that this was insightful on how to grow your own calendula in your garden and how impressive its benefits are! If you are unable to grow this at the moment specialty stores usually carry calendula flowers as well. It’s honestly amazing to me that there’s so much medicine in nature we just have to find it!
Happy Gardening,
-Tahiri
