Calendula

Sunny Ladies

Calendula likes to reseed itself and it's really good at it, yet over the years I have heard that it's good to re-plant new seed to strengthen the flowers.
I resisted for years because I figured the seed was just perfect, having grown right there and replanted itself. A small miracle, really.
But last year I did buy new seed and replanted my garden and lo and behold if they aren't the most lovely early bloomers!
This is their first year of reseeding and some of the plants even survived the winter.
I have grand plans for more production this year which, lucky for me, means being in the garden with my plant lovelies more.

Calendula Harvest

Many of the rewards for harvesting this amazing flower are obvious. The warm sun, the golden light beaming back at you, the buzz and dance of the honeybees and just the quiet joys of being in the garden. However, my favorite thing is the scent. The scent of the flowers themselves, but especially the smell that lingers with me. The flowers are full of resin and your fingers become sticky with it and smell like heaven.















As I pluck the brightest, stickiest ones for my salve, I am constantly deadheading the spent ones, discarding them to re-seed whenever they are ready.

Calendula

here is an old school illustration of Calendula

in this picture you'll see the calendula that is blooming from last year's plants under the "getting taller everyday" Elecampane and on the right is the garden sage where the calendula seeds are growing next to it.



these are the babies.
this is an up close picture.
on the left is a red stem with the seed still attached, the middle plant has leaves about 1/3 inch long and the 3rd image is about to open.
so sweet and oh so strong for being so tiny




If you can see the hose nozzle at the top of the picture you can get a sense of the scale here.

These are from a week or so ago and everything has doubled since then.

I'll try to add more pictures soon.

I'm in love.

Spring Tonic Bath

Long hot baths are traditionally for me more of a winter thing, but lately, I cannot get enough of being submerged in my own bathtub. I will forgo many things in lieu of the long steamy time in the tub. I've been potion making and straining oils from herbs so that I have several bags & jars of leftover herbs to indulge in.
Most people have an excess of condiments or preserves in their fridge, where I have elixirs, tonics and many mysterious treasures.
The container of herbs that I took from the fridge last week was a mystery to me as well. I emptied it under the running hot water tap and realized it was the leftover herbs from Botany with Grade 5 from last May or June. The roses, calendula, clover & chickweed were all harvested by the children and made into a healing balm that was made outside the same day. We also made a sun tea from many of the same kinds of herbs for them to drink later in the afternoon. It was nice to remember that day from last spring and to be able to still benefit from the healing of those same herbs. They had the added benefit of having been steeped in oil, so that I had a super emollient bath as well.



If you want to make your own spring tonic bath, find some unsprayed flowers & leaves and throw them in the tub with you.
Some good choices are roses (flowers & leaves) hawthorne (flwrs & lvs, be careful of thorns), raspberry leaves, calendula flowers & leaves as well as the kitchen herbs; sage, marjoram, rosemary, thyme & fennel.
You can also use some dried herbs like lavender or chamomile.
Here's a link to a fall/winter bath.