Resina Calendula – Plant Spotlight
Today we shine the spotlight on Resina Calendula – a medical herbal flower that’s loaded with the beneficial resins that make calendula a well loved remedy!
Resina Calendula
Plant: Flowering Herb
Seeds Obtained From: https://www.rareseeds.com/resina-calendula/
About: Resina calendula flowers are bright yellow and orange. The entire plant is rather sticky to the touch, thanks to high levels of medicinal resin within the plant. It forms a small bush if branching is encouraged with steady flower pinching. The flowers can also be used to make a natural dye. Hardy Annual.
Garden Journal Notes
Growing Tips
Seedling Stage
The fresh seeds germinate quickly under grow lights, almost a 100% germination rate. Seeds sprout over the course of 1-2 weeks. Seedlings take to transplanting well, or you can direct sow in the garden. (See our article How to Grow, Harvest & Use Calendula for more details.)
Leaves are fuzzy and somewhat sticky to the touch even when the seedlings are so young as to only have two sets of true leaves – your fingers may catch against the surface slightly when stroked. (This resin is a good thing – it’s the part of the flower that makes it medicinal and healing!)
Seedlings can be up-potted to a larger size container when two sets of true leaves have grown in. We generally transplant about three times into increasingly larger containers before planting outside.
Early Flowering
Early flowers that appear on young calendula plants can be picked as soon as they’re fully open to encourage branching, and more buds will quickly begin to appear.
True branching doesn’t usually begin until the plants are finally planted directly into the ground. Continued picking results in knee-high bushes – over 22 inches tall- that expanded outwards roughly 18-20 inches. As the plant ages, the middles may became rather bare from the heavy center stems falling over.
Watch Out for Cutworms!
The only pests that seemed to bother our calendula resina plants are cutworms, but a small twig or stick inserted directly beside the stem of each plant can usually be enough to protect them.
Pollinators Love Resina Calendula Flowers!
Butterflies, bumblebees, honeybees, and tiny native pollinators all flock to the blossoms. We never pick all of the plants completely bare at once, so that way the pollinators can enjoy them as fully as possible.
If you enjoy dabbling with herbs and natural remedies, be sure to plant plenty of these flowers!
For a steady supply, try succession planting a few batches, several weeks apart. Also be sure to stay on top of harvesting the flowers – it barely takes a few days for a plant to go from bright blooms to seedheads everywhere!
These sound so lovely! Personally, I love marigolds – the colors, the pretty leaves, and how the roots are beneficial to many other crops as well.
You say your family ‘goes through’ calendula – I’d love to know how you use it.
Have a Blessed Day
Hi Sandra!
When it comes to the calendula, a lot of it ends up in my mother’s hands- and in soap as a result! We also use it in face teas, salves (such as my Achilles’ Heel Salve!), and other bodycare products. It’s a much-loved herb in our house!