When To Collect Calendula Seeds?

When To Collect Calendula Seeds

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wanting to collect your own calendula seeds to grow some fresh plants? If so you need to know when to collect calendula seeds.

When To Collect Calendula Seeds?
When To Collect Calendula Seeds?

When To Collect Calendula Seeds?

This normally happens in autumn time but it obviously depends on when your calendula plants were sown and when they flowered. The earlier they flowered the earlier they will be ready to collect.

To collect calendula seeds just cut the flower head off when it has started to turn brown. You can then keep these in a paper envelope for a few weeks.

After this, the flower head will be nice and dry and the seeds will come away from the spent head very easily.

Calendula seeds are very easy to identify. They are very curled and have ridges all along the back of them.

Calendula Officinalis (pot marigold)

Calendula is an annual herb that is edible and is commonly used in herbal remedies for all kinds of afflictions.

While being an annual it does have a strong self-seeding habit so grows almost as if it was a perennial. Plant some in a garden bed and expect them to readily self-seed and come back year after year.

They are really easy to grow and not too fussy at all. Provide them with a nice sunny spot in good, well-draining soil and they will reward you with ample bright orange blooms.

Benifits of Calendula

Calendula is edible and was commonly known as poor man’s saffron. This is because they can be used to colour food dishes in much the same way as saffron is, although they do not taste like saffron. The flower petals can be added to salads for a splash of colour.

Beyond being edible calendula flowers have been used for many hundreds of years as a herbal remedy.

It has antibacterial, antifungal and antiseptic properties and is used in all sorts of things from topical creams to lip balms.

What is Calendula’s common name?

Calendula is commonly known as pot marigold. Despite this, they are not marigolds but the name stems from them looking very similar to marigolds and either commonly being used in pot-cooked food dishes or the fact that they grow well in pots, depending on who you ask.

How to tell Calendulas and French Marigolds apart

There are a few easy ways to differentiate between the two plants.

French Marigold

The more common marigold is grown as an attractive flower and is not usually considered edible, although some varieties are. This is a whole other topic which is hotly debated and I’m not going to get into it here, for the sake of simplicity I will say they are not edible.

They are grown for their flowers and also as a pest preventive. Marigolds are commonly used in companion planting as they are believed to deter certain pests.

To Summarise

Calendula and Marigolds are from the same family of plants (Asteraceae) but are from different genera. French marigolds are from the Tagetes genus whilst pot marigolds are from the Calendula genus.

They have both been simply referred to as marigolds in the past but now pot marigold is the common name for calendula. To avoid any confusion though I think it is simply best to refer to them as calendula.

Got a problem with your calendula, check out my Why Is My Calendula Wilting Article or maybe my How Far Apart To Plant Calendula post is more up your street.

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