Fabulous Calendula!

Calendula with Rudbeckia and Russian Sage

I love the way the blue of the Russian Sage
makes the orange and yellow of the
Calendula pop.

Calendula (calendula officinalis) has become one of my favorite flowers for its eye catching color in a garden design and its many functional uses.  It's bright orange color lends itself well to the potager garden as a color focal point.  Last year I combined it with bronze fennel and pink cosmos, which worked well visually until the cosmos and fennel grew too tall.  This year I am going to interplant them with "bowles' black" violets as I like the contrast between the dark purple violets and the bright orange calendulas.  I also like the combination of orange with blue (so maybe some bright blue pansies or blue salvia (salvia patens 'gentian sage').  

Besides being so beautiful in the garden, calendula is beneficial to the organic vegetable garden;  It is a great companion plant for swiss chard and cabbage. Calendula has been found to repel aphids, cabbage moths, and other pests.  Plus calendula interplanted among swiss chard and cabbage plants also looks beautiful (I think it would be so pretty with purple cabbage or sea foam chard).  I may also try interplanting with kale and collards to see if it works to repel pests there too.    The blossoms can also be steeped in water to make an insecticidal tea that can be sprayed on plants.  I may try it for aphids this year.   While it does repel some pests from the garden, calendula attracts beneficial insects such as hoverflies, butterflies, and bees to the garden.  Calendula is also said to be a soil cleaner;  It may be helpful in removing toxins from soil and suppressing plant damaging nematodes. 

Calendula also has many beauty applications.  It can be found in creams and toners.  One of the aestheticians at the spa that I go to is from Hungary.  She told me how her mother would collect the calendula blossoms from their garden and use them to make a toner.  She would cover fresh blossoms with boiling water and let them steep for a few hours.  Afterwards the spent blossoms would be strained out.  Calendula is said to have a very soothing effect on the skin, reducing redness and inflammation, and promoting healing.  It can also be used in skin creams for the same purpose.  I may try making a face cream this year with some of my harvest (stay tuned for that).

Freshly harvested Calendula:  the lighter blossom is the
variety 'Pink Surprise'

Hungarian Calendula Toner:

1 handful of fresh or dried calendula blossoms

boiling water

In a heatproof glass measuring cup add calendula blossoms and cover with boiling water.  Let steep for a few hours, strain and pour into an apothecary jar.  Use day or night as a toner after cleansing.  Refrigerate and replace every week or two.

There are so many other benefits of calendula too numerous to mention...it is a beautiful  and very useful addition to the organic kitchen garden!

A great source of different varieties of calendula is Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

www.rareseeds.com