Calendula is a great plant for many gardens. Whether you are an experienced gardener or a true beginner, calendula is easy to grow. In fact, they are great low-maintenance plants that quite frankly thrive on neglect. There are a great many reasons to grow them. They not only cheer up your outside spaces with their sunny color, but also have a range of practical uses in your garden, in your kitchen, and around your home. And in the post today, we want to write about good reasons that you will love growing it in your garden.
Calendula is generally considered as an ornamental plant and placed in a flower bed or border, or in containers. But it can also find a role in other parts of the garden. For example, as a companion plant to fruits or vegetables, or on the sunny fringes of a forest garden. Interestingly, these plants will actually flower most prolifically when grown in a low-nutrient setting, with lower soil fertility. Or their vibrant flowers attract bees, other pollinators, and a wide range of other insects. Even, the flowers’ soothing and healing properties, along with their color and other properties make them an incredibly useful addition to a range of DIY, natural balms, lotions, and beauty products. With a list of good uses of calendula that it can bring, if your garden hasn’t grown the plant, let’s give it space!
#1 Attract Beneficial Wildlife
Their vibrant flowers attract bees, other pollinators, and a wide range of other insects. In addition to attracting pollinators, calendula also serves as a food source for a number of Lepidoptera species, and so will draw moths and butterflies to your garden.
#2 As a Companion Plant
Calendula is also a great companion plant, attract pollinators. It also helps by attracting predatory insects like ladybugs, lacewings, and hoverflies that help keep pest numbers down. These plants also repel whitefly from tomatoes and act as a trap crop to lure aphids away from other crops. Calendula can also aid other plants when used as a living mulch or cover crop.
#3 For a Long-Lasting Display of Blooms
Since calendula blooms over such a long period of time, it can be a great plant to help you meet this goal. The bright and cheerful flowers can really brighten up the garden over the summer and fall. The long flowering period is not just good for wildlife which enjoys the garden. It is great for human inhabitants too.
#4 To Speed Up Composting
Calendula can be used as part of a herbal mix which acts as a compost activator. Compost activators speed up the composting process and make it easier and quicker to return nutrients to the garden system.
#5 For Cut Flower Displays
You don’t just have to enjoy calendula flowers in your garden. You can also cut the blooms and use them in fresh flower displays inside your home. The flowers can be hugely decorative, and can be used for numerous floral arrangements – in vases or garlanded, or in a range of other ways.
#6 For Herbal Medicine
Calendula is anti-inflammatory and antiseptic, which can be used to soothe and heal skin, and cleanses and detoxifies when taken internally. You can use the flowers fresh or dried in a wide range of herbal preparations and domestic remedies.
#7 Make a Natural Dye
The flowers can also be boiled to make a natural yellow dye. The dye can have culinary applications, as an alternative to saffron for coloring food. It was traditionally used to add color to butter and cheeses. The dye can also add golden tints to hair, and can also be used, alone or with the addition of a mordant to set the dye, to color natural fabrics.
#8 Help Determine What Weather is To Come
Calendula can give cues that suggest a weather change is on the way. The blooms will often close up in humid conditions, and in certain areas, can give an indication that wet weather could become.
#9 Use in Your Kitchen
Calendula is not only used to color food but also to impart flavor. The leaves are rich in vitamins and minerals, similar to the dandelion, and can be eaten raw. The petals are the part of the plant that is used for culinary purposes. They are used fresh or dried. When dried, they have a more concentrated flavor.
#10 Make Cleaning and Cosmetic Products
Calendula is the potential plant as an ingredient for cleaning and cosmetic products. The flowers’ soothing and healing properties, along with their color and other properties make them an incredibly useful addition to a range of DIY, natural balms, lotions, and beauty products.