October 2024
Was there every a cheerier, more resilient plant than the bright orange, daisy-like calendula? A member of the marigold family, it self-seeds and flowers throughout the year, prolific and hardy even in the darkest days of winter. Some people no doubt consider it invasive, but I am glad to find it still popping up in random corners of the garden as the days grow chillier and shorter. For that, I have to thank one of my neighbours here in La Laguna, who gave me a single plant some years ago from which all the others descend.
The calendula, or ‘pot marigold’, is often recommended for children to sow, since its seeds are all but guaranteed to come up and produce a display. The flowers are edible: safe for curious wee ones and pets to ingest, as well offering free bounty to the cake decorator and those who like to experiment with salads. Herbalists and homeopaths extol its wide variety of medicinal uses. Though I’ve never tried making it, I’ve often seen calendula hand-balm for sale, but I did once make calendula oil (steeping the dried flowers in almond oil for about 10 days) as a remedy for sunburn, and it worked very well.
More than any of its other qualities, though, I prize the calendula’s joyful colour and direct appeal. As with the varied hues of autumn gourds, pumpkins chief among them, that prompt us to give thanks for this season of maturity and harvest, the warm orange of the calendula suggests good cheer and good company, in whatever ‘random corners’ we are blessed to find them.