Chestnut Herbal School
Close-up of a calendula flower.

How to Grow Calendula & Use Its Medicine

Calendula (Calendula officinalis, Asteraceae) is one of the easiest herbs to grow and a highly versatile medicinal plant—naturally, it finds its way into the hearts and gardens of all herb lovers. It has been used internally and topically for centuries to heal wounds, burns, and rashes. The sunshiny flowers are a traditional remedy for supporting the immune system and lifting the spirits. If that weren’t enough, the edible ray florets of the flower heads (which look like yellow or orange petals) are bursting with antioxidant compounds. In this article, we’ll share how to grow calendula, gather it throughout the summer, and use it for medicine.

Red powder puff.

Even Red Powder Puff Has Bad Hair Days

The showiness of this flower does not come from its petals, but instead from its male flower parts. The filaments are the stalks of the stamens (pollen bearing structures). In this flower they are doing double duty by also attracting pollinators. This genus has diminutive petals but many of the powder puff-type legume flowers in the tropics have lost their petals and only have showy stamens.

Pollinator on an anemone bloom.

Anemone: Medicine, Poison, Pollen, and Melodrama

Anemone: Medicine, Poison, Pollen, and MelodramaWritten by Juliet Blankespoor with Meghan Gemma Photographed by Juliet Blankespoor Courageous of bloom, anemone often endures the wind and freezing temperatures of early spring or fall (depending on the species). I first fell in love with anemone while visiting the high boreal and alpine expanses of the Rocky Mountains [...]
Flower collage.

An Invitation

An InvitationWritten and Photographed by Juliet Blankespoor Attention all fleuraphiles, fleuravores, and fleurologists: I formally invite you to join me in celebration of the juicy colors, textures and stories of plant reproduction. I will be featuring a flower every Friday for a year in my not-so-originally-named A Year in Flowers The flowers will be seasonal [...]
Large milkweed seed bug.

Large Milkweed Seed Bugs

Large Milkweed Seed BugsWritten and Photographed by Juliet Blankespoor Large milkweed seed bug (Oncopeltus fasciatus) - I recently photographed some colorful milkweed bugs in my garden and decided to repost a small piece I had previously posted about these gorgeous gregarious insects with the new photos, figuring most of you didn't read the original essay, [...]