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Flowers & Herbs,  Grow Guides,  Natural Health & DIY,  Preserve Your Harvest

All About Calendula: How to Grow, Harvest, Dry, & Use Calendula Flowers

Calendula officinalis just may be one of my favorite annual flowers to grow in the garden. Yes, I could probably say that about many flowers – I do love them all! – but calendula definitely deserves to be among the top 5. It is gorgeous, easy to grow, has a long blooming season, and is super easy to save seeds from. Additionally, did you know that calendula is both medicinal and edible? It sure is!

Come read along to learn how to grow calendula along with it various benefits and how to harvest, dry, and use it. In addition to providing a burst of sunshine in the garden, you may be surprised to learn what expansive natural healing properties it has!


Get to Know Calendula


Calendula is highly prized by gardeners and herbalist alike due to the versatility of this flower. To be more accurate, we should call calendula by what it really is: a flowering herb! Note that calendula is sometimes referred to as “pot marigold” – but don’t confuse it with true marigolds, such as french marigolds. They’re distinctly different, and not nearly as medicinal in nature.

Sprinkle fresh or dried calendula blossom petals on top of salads (or any dish really) as a cheerful pop of color! They also make a beautiful and tasty addition to scrambled eggs, frittata, summer salsa, or even in soup!  Whole dried flowers can also be added to soups, broths, and stews in the winter for an extra immunity boost. Or, put some pep in your summer beverages with a calendula garnish.

Another bonus is that calendula makes an excellent companion plant in any vegetable or pollinator-friendly garden! It is #1 on our list of Top 23 Plants for Pollinators. This flower attracts bees and butterflies, and is said to repel pest insects. Its roots may help increase the activity of beneficial microbes and fungi in the soil.


A close up of a hand holding about 8 calendula blooms of various sizes, petal structure and color. Some are bright orange, some are more light yellow, and some with pink tones. The hand is covering over a garden bed of kale and lettuce.


Medicinal Benefits of Calendula


Calendula has been called upon for centuries to treat skin ailments, support the immune system, and heal infections, both internally and externally. If you pay attention to labels, you’ll probably notice calendula as a key ingredient in many natural skin care products, and for a good reason! We primarily grow calendula to make soothing skin salves.

Topically, calendula can ease, heal, or otherwise treat a huge array of skin conditions. According to the Chestnut School of Herbs, this includes: “rashes, stings, wounds, burns, sunburn, swelling, eczema, acne, surgical wounds, scrapes, chicken pox, cold sores, and even genital herpes sores.” It works its magic by promoting cells repair and growth, coupled with its natural antiseptic properties and anti-inflammatory properties. Above all, it is gentle in its work.


“Calendula is a wonderful herb for babies, being potent as well as soothing gentle. It is one of the most popular herbs for treating cradle cap, diaper rash, and other skin irritations. And calendula tea is a useful remedy for thrush type of yeast overgrowth not uncommon in infants.”

Rosemary Gladstar, from her book Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide


Internally, it can help boost the immune and lymph system, fight fungal infections, reduce inflammation, menstrual cramps, and gastrointestinal upset, as well as keep fevers at bay. It is also an anti-viral. One of the quickest and easiest ways to consume calendula is by making tea, which we’ll cover soon!


Our Favorite Calendula Varieties


Calendula comes in dozens of shades of the sunset: golden yellow, bright to light oranges, blushing reds, and some of my favorite, peachy-pink tones. Regardless of appearance, they all have the same amazing healing properties, so choose whatever colors tickle your fancy! Note that the more sticky and resinous the variety, the more potent your homemade calendula products will be.

Here are our current favorite varieties of calendula to grow:


Four images of different types of calendula. Pink surprise is peachy-pink and has a large middle center. Apricot twist is light orange and more fluffy, with full petals. Strawberry blonde has a light yellow center with pink petals.
Shown are Pink Surprise (Top left and bottom right), Apricot Twist (bottom left), and Strawberry Blonde (top right).


So, are you convinced? Are you ready to try to grow calendula in your home garden? I shouldn’t even say “try” – because there’s really not much to it! I’d like to wager that even the blackest of thumbs out there can successfully grow calendula.



How to Grow Calendula


Calendula is just about as no-fuss and low-maintenance as they come. It will perform best in rich, well-draining soil, but will tolerate a wide variety of soils – including poor soil. Heck, half of ours this year isn’t even growing in soil.  Spent blooms dropped seed into the gravel area around our raised beds (that has landscape fabric below it) and they’re growing very happily there (pictured below). It is also very easy to successfully grow calendula in containers as well.

You can either grow calendula seeds indoors and transplant seedlings outside, or direct-sow calendula seeds in the garden in spring after the last frost. Follow the instructions on the seed package in regards to depth (usually around 1/4″ deep). Thin seedlings early to prevent overcrowding, spacing plants about 8 to 12 inches apart.

Calendula grows best in full-sun, but will tolerate some late afternoon shade, especially in the hottest climates. Provide moderate water. It won’t like being overly wet, as it is fairly drought-tolerant. Calendula is tolerant to both heat and cold. The plants and long-lasting blooms may continue straight through the first freeze the following winter! It is also reported to be deer-resistant.


An image of raised garden beds with hundreds of calendula blooms growing in front of them. There are chickens in the garden area, and climbing pole beans going up a trellis along the back of the beds, which abut a blue house. The blooms are orange, red, pink, and yellow. Other leafy greens also grow in the beds. The sun shines in the distance, low on the horizon.
Some of our 2019 calendula crop ~ mostly volunteers whose seeds fell from the beds above. Yes, they’re growing in front of the beds, in the same small strip of gravel that is to the left of the pavers as well. Each spring, we tuck a few calendula plants in our raised garden beds as companions to our veggies, along with in our pollinator islands and other “wild” garden spaces. As we are getting more and more volunteers, we are needing to plant less and less – though I always love to try new varieties too!


Calendula disease and pests


Calendula does not attract many pests. The one disease that seems most likely to affect this plant is powdery mildew, which unfortunately is very common here. Avoid overcrowding plants to increase airflow and reduce the chances of disease. Thankfully, the mildew only seems to affect the foliage and not the blooms. Learn how to prevent and treat powdery mildew organically here.



When to Harvest Calendula


Herbalist all agree that the best time to harvest calendula is during mid-morning, shortly after the new blooms have opened but after any dew has dried. That said, simply do your best given your schedule. Harvesting midday or even in the afternoon is better than not harvesting them at all!

If you plan to use it for edible or medicinal purposes, harvest calendula flowers when they’re fresh, young, and have just fully opened. Avoid collecting heads that are already starting to dry and form seeds. You can leave those on the plant to fully dry and mature for seed-saving instead.

On that note, uncollected flower heads will allow calendula to freely re-seed itself. If you don’t want your garden full of calendula volunteers, plan to collect spent flowers before the seeds dry and disperse. We harvest some, but leave plenty behind as well. The volunteers are welcome here!


How to Harvest Calendula


To harvest calendula blooms, simply pick or cut off the flower where it meets the stem. Yes, take the whole head! The most medicinal value is actually found in the green pedestal, not just the flower petals. While harvesting calendula, your fingers may get a bit sticky from the resin. This is a good thing! In fact, the stickier the better. The resin has potent antifungal properties and is where most of the healing power comes from.

Don’t be shy about harvesting calendula flowers. The more you harvest, the more will grow. If you’re serious about stocking up on calendula, plan harvest new blooms every few days.


Three images of close up calendula blooms. One is pink one is curled up and closed, with water droplets, too wet to harvest. The others are in sunshine, dry and open. Scissors are shown trimming one bloom at the base of the flower head.
The dewy calendula bloom on the left is too damp to harvest just yet. Wait until the sun comes out, they dry a bit, and then snip away! Shown are Zeolight and Solar Flashback varieties.


A woven basket full of harvested calendula flower blooms, in every shade of yellow, pink, orange, and red.
One of our spring calendula harvests.



How to Dry & Store Calendula


There are a variety of ways to dry calendula. No matter how you do it, one thing is of the utmost importance: make sure that it is 100% completely dry before being put away for storage. I have heard too many horror stories of jars full of moldy blooms, after all that hard work to collect and preserve them. So, so sad! The next very important thing to note is that calendula should not be exposed to high temperatures when drying. Heat will denature and ruin much of its medicinal components. Therefore, drying in an oven is not recommended.

You can choose to dry the petals, or the entire head. Petals alone will dry more quickly and have less chance of mold. However, plucking petals takes a lot more upfront labor to prepare for drying. Not to mention, the green base of the flower is incredibly resinous and potentially holds even more beneficial compounds than the petals, so we dry the blooms whole.

Do not wash blooms before drying. If needed, gently shake them out to dislodge dust or occasional insects. But since we are taking newly-opened blooms, they should be fresh as daisies!


Air Drying Calendula


Under the right conditions, calendula can passively air dry. It just takes a bit of time and patience. Okay, maybe a lot of time. In a warm, well-ventilated, dry location, set the calendula blooms on screens, in airy baskets, or other breathable racks, like this hanging herb drying rack, which we use for another kind of herb. 😉 Periodically toss and turn the blooms to ensure they’re drying evenly. Then wait.

Given our temperate climate, humidity, and cool spring weather, we decided to not fuss with air drying. It would take forever, and I was worried they would mold. Instead, we used our food dehydrator.


6 stainless steel 12x12 food dehydrator trays are laid out in a perfect rectangle, 2x3. They're covered from edge to edge with calendula blooms of various sizes and colors of red, orange, yellow and pink. The flowers are face-down, with their green bottom centers facing up.
Something about laying out all these heads is very therapeutic.


Drying Calendula in a Food Dehydrator


This method will get the job done much faster! But remember, we don’t want to heat the calendula. Set your dehydrator on the lowest setting – no warmer than 95-100°F. Our awesome Excalibur dehydrator has a “living foods” setting in this range, which ensures all the beneficial healing properties of herbs or other plants aren’t destroyed by heat! 

Lay out your calendula blooms face down on your dehydrator racks. On a low setting, dry them until they’re dry. Bone dry. Sorry, there isn’t an exact time to go by!

The time it takes to fully dry depends on the method you use, your machine (or not), if you’re drying petals only or whole heads, and the flowers themselves. For example, some of our smallest blooms were completely dry within a day or two, while the fattest, largest heads still seemed like they needed a few more days.


The stainless steel trays loaded with calendula now inside the dehydrator, ready to get dried.
Dang, that is a sexy machine full of sunshine. Shop Excalibur dehydrators here



Store dried calendula blooms in an airtight container out of direct sunlight, and use within one year.


Two large glass jars full of dried wrinkly calendula blooms. Whole heads of dried flowers.
Some of our stash.



How to Use Dried Calendula


So, what do I do with all this dried calendula? Well… any number of things!


Calendula Tea

For internal use, one of the quickest and easiest ways to prepare dry calendula is making a tea infusion. In 8 ounces of water, steep approximately 1 to 3 loose Tablespoons of dried petals, or 4 to 6 dried flower heads. This is easy to do with the assistance of a loose-leaf tea infuser, like this one we love and use. Cover and steep in hot water for 8 to 10 minutes, and then enjoy! Or, scale up the portions and steep a larger pot to enjoy over a couple of days. It is best to store the prepared tea in the refrigerator to maintain freshness.

Keep in mind that people make medicinal teas primarily for their health benefits over pure enjoyment and flavor. Thankfully, I quite like the taste of calendula tea! It is mellow, slightly earthy, slightly sweet, and maybe just a tad bit grassy – but not nearly as grassy as over-steeped green tea.

Enjoy calendula tea on occasion to boost your mood. After all, it is historically referenced for having antidepressant properties! Or, if you are in need of some deeper healing (and have an ample supply!), feel free to sip on the tea up to three times a day. You really can’t overdo it. Calendula has no limit or risk of toxicity! I have been sipping calendula tea this spring to ease my swollen lymph glands caused by allergies.


A mug that reads "good vibes only" on the side, with a stainless steel tea infuser perched inside. Several dry calendula heads are inside the infuser, along with laying around the base of the tea mug and in a jar in the background.
That is one cheery-ass cup of tea-to-be, if you ask me.


Other Ways to Use Dried Calendula


In addition to adding it to various meals and beverages, herbalists use dried calendula to make incredibly healing calendula-infused oil, topical salves and creams, or tinctures for internal use. When applied topically, calendula can help ease inflammation, redness, rashes or other irritation, eczema, psoriasis, and more.

Learn how to make homemade calendula oil here, along with 8 ways to use it! Then, you could turn your oil into incredibly moisturizing homemade calendula salve with this tutorial. We also offer organic calendula salve in our shop, made with flowers grown in our home garden.

If you have chickens, calendula petals can be added to their nesting boxes as a natural insect repellent. Also, if you feed your chickens fresh or dried calendula petals, their egg yolks will be even more golden orange! Plus, they’ll reap all the health benefits as well. You can also add petals or whole flowers to a bubble bath!

If you want to dive deeper, I highly recommend checking out the book “Medicinal Herbs: A Beginner’s Guide” by Rosemary Gladstar. It has been one of my key sources of information and inspiration thus far – for calendula, and beyond! Another great resource is this Organic Body Care Recipes book.



Now you know all about calendula!


I hope you found this article to be interesting and helpful as you start your calendula journey. Even if you don’t plan to get all deep into salves and oils, you won’t regret adding it to your garden. I promise!


Finally, let me know if you have any questions, and please spread the love and share this post with friends!



DeannaCat's signature, keep on growing

97 Comments

  • Pat Moore

    Try a soapy mixture of water and soap and spray the mildewy areas. Also pick 4 fat Aloe Vera leaves and grind them and add to water, spray on and around your flowers, it fertilizes, prompts root growth and helps build plants immunity. Burdock plants leaves are used this way to deter insects on plants. Plus you can eat fresh young burdock leaves and harvest/skin the roots and use in stir-fry. Burdock and dandelion greens are super Liver detox.

  • Sally

    This was such a marvelous post. Thank you! I can’t wait to get some seeds and plant. I did not realize it was an herb with medicinal value as well as a beautiful flower. I have a small raised bed garden and will find areas to plant this in around my garden. Can’t wait to harvest and dry it and use it for many things in the kitchen as well as medicinally. Thanks again.

  • Sara C

    Hi, I’ve been air drying my calendula in our house and this year had some caterpillars appear all over the room😬 would using a dehydrator help prevent hatching? Or am I maybe not picking the flowers soon enough?

    • Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)

      Hi Sara, it seems you have a lot of caterpillars in your area that like calendula flowers. The caterpillars were likely already on the flowers when you harvested them, once the caterpillars sense the flower is no longer living, they evacuate in search of other suitable foods. You can try and harvest the flowers more often and see if there are fewer caterpillars appearing on your flowers. Also, using insect netting would help keep the moths from laying eggs on your calendula to begin with. We also have another article on 8 Organic Ways to Get Rid of Cabbage Worms & Cabbage Moths that may be of use to you. Hope that helps and good luck!

  • Molly Tlas

    Hi there! I’m in Phoenix.
    You recommend planting seeds in the spring. Could I start now or is it too warm? It’s still 105 these days.

    I bought calendula flowers on Amazon and am now infusing them in jojoba oil. I’m looking forward to growing my own for this!

    • Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)

      Hi Molly, Phoenix may still be a tad too warm to actually plant anything outdoors, especially when the seedlings are so small, they are at even more risk from environmental pressures. I know a lot of people grow veggies over the winter in Arizona so I think you still have plenty of time. If you have a grow light, it may be beneficial to start the seeds indoors and keep them as seedlings under a grow light for a month before you harden them off and transplant outside. Looking at average temperatures in Phoenix, it looks like mid to late October would be a good time to start your seedlings but it may still be a tad warm for them outside as seedlings. November is looking like a great month for plants to start taking off with growth. Hope that helps and good luck!

      • Gayla Moudry

        Such good information is there a way to get a print. I have been buying calendula to make oil at home but have not tried growing and drying my own. I live in the panhandle of Florida. Thanks

        • Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)

          Hi Gayla, unfortunately our website is not designed to easily print out our articles but our recipes and how to articles have a printable option at the bottom of the article, such as our How to Make Calendula Oil, Plus 8 Ways to Use it! and How to Make Homemade Calendula Salve for Healthy Skin articles bot have printable options. But you should absolutely grow your own calendula as homegrown calendula flowers far surpass any you can purchase in quality and medicinal value. Since calendula prefers cooler temperatures and you live in the Florida panhandle, you can likely grow calendula through most of the year as it can handle light frosts but the plants may struggle during your hottest months as anything over 85 degrees F may be too hot. Hope that helps and have fun growing calendula this year!

  • David McGuinn

    I have ben harvesting my calendula by cutting the stems as low as possible being careful not to remove any unopened buds. I then hang the stems inverted with the flower heads and some attached leaves for a few days. I do this hoping that as much resin as possible will move up into the flower head. My thought in removing the stem is that in continuied growth resin will not be sent up a stem that will not produce any further blossoms. After a few days I remove the flower heads and go through the drying process.

    When I harvest, I feel the stem to see when it is most sticky and when the blossoms are most fully open.
    This is often about 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Do you think this is not a good idea as most information
    suggests harvesting around mid morning?

    By the way,great site with wonderful info. Many thanks.
    Please be well. Love and Peace
    David

    • Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)

      Hi David, harvesting the blooms when they are most sticky is a good idea, I can’t quite tell what part of the day they are most sticky as my fingers are usually stuck together by the time I am done harvesting no matter what time of day I harvest. We also just pluck the blooms off at the top of the stem and dry the flowers in our dehydrator on a very low setting, not sure that cutting off part of the stem is necessary or not but if you works for you, then all the better. Hope that helps, we appreciate your support, and have fun growing!

  • Lace Faerie aka Karen

    I was wondering if the flowers that are starting to develope seeds are still beneficial? Can the immature seed heads be used?

    Thanks for all the great posts!

    • Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)

      Hi, yes they can still be used. Much of the medicinal properties are found in the green, bottom portion of the flower head itself. Hope that helps and good luck!

        • Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)

          Hello Alyssa, unfortunately we do not. A few years ago we did a limited release on a mixed variety of seeds containing calendula, zinnia, marigold, and coneflower but that was more of a “one off” type of thing. We really like quite a few varieties that are easy to find and we use High Mowing Seeds for most of our seed purchases. Hope that helps and have fun growing!

  • Judy

    Your informative articles on growing calendula and making salve have inspired me to give it a try. My calendula plants are starting to bloom beautifully and I’m at the stage now of dehydrating the flowers in my new dehydrater. I’ve lost track of how long my dehydrater has been running but the petals are definitely dry. I’m just not sure if the rest of the head is dry enough. How can I test this or be sure? Should it crumble between my fingers as when I dry herbs?

    • Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)

      Hi Judy, we have found that usually 48-72 hours at 95-98 degrees F is enough time for the flowers to be dry. You don’t need to crumble the flowers to see if they are dry as ours will usually still maintain their shape and not fall apart even when fully dry. You can always inspect/squeeze the flowers and see how dry they feel and if you aren’t quite sure and don’t need your dehydrator for anything else at the moment, I would just set it for another 24 hours and hopefully they are fully dry by then. Hope that helps and good luck with your calendula flowers and salve.

  • Elizabeth Raptis

    I need to know if I can place flowers into my salve when I pour it into the container. Should I use fresh or dried flowers to do this?

    • Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)

      Hi Elizabeth, definitely use dried flowers to garnish your salve and I would add the petals after the salve has been poured into the containers but before it solidifies. If the petals don’t as readily float on top while the salve is still liquid, you may have to let it harden more before garnishing them. Hope that helps and enjoy your calendula salve.

  • Karissa

    Hey Mr. and Mrs. Deannacat, I’ve been *trying* to grow calendula for about a year now and the issue I run into often is the powdery mildew. Today I was looking through the leaves and I had the instict to take off all the leaves and any growth at the bottom of the stem to get some airflow. I hope this doesn’t shock my plant too much, its already flowering so I’m not sure if it was a good idea to do this at this stage. Can you provide some insight on common practives for pruning calendula? Is it safe to assume that just as other plants, if you prune the bottom leaves that it will promote top growth? Thanks!

    • Aaron (Mr. DeannaCat)

      Hi Karissa, we don’t typically prune up the bottom of calendula plants but it can’t be a bad idea to promote more air flow. As the plant continues to grow and get larger, the bottom leaves actually turn brown and die off, later in the plants life it is a bit more bare down low and turns a little more “scraggly” looking, without having as many lush green leaves like it does in the beginning. Calendula can be a difficult plant to grow due to the problem with powdery mildew, we have been trying a thing or two this season to combat it but it is still too early to share our findings. You can spray them with potassium bicarbonate once a week as a preventative or twice a week if you have an infestation to try and keep the mildew down. Hope that helps and if we find something that works better for PM, we will be sure to share it.

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