Growing Calendulas for Flower Farmers
Calendulas, also known as pot marigolds (due to their history of culinary use) are one of the easiest flowers to grow, and are some of the first cut flowers that many flower farmers (or gardeners) grow.
It probably has to do with a couple of factors that make them so easy to grow- first of all that the seeds are large and easy to handle which makes them a no-brainer for direct sowing, secondly that the seeds sprout very readily and quickly, and thirdly that they flower very quickly from seed - at around 60 days or so, and are relatively hardy (although they don’t tend to do well with long and extended and wet conditions at low temperatures).
There’s also the fact that they’re usually grown for the sticky resin that their petals produce - a much desired ingredient in skincare products due to their soothing qualities for the skin - although the ones grown for the resin aren’t quite as pretty as the ones you can grow as a flower farmer. However, they all are very productive and will pump out flowers all season long for us.
So yes - easy to grow, easy to start from seed, and productive. Let’s learn a little bit more about the varieties of calendulas to grow!
Favorite Varieties
I personally love the old-fashioned orange varieties like ‘Indian Prince’ - the tall long stems and large bold flowers are an excellent splash of color that mixes well with other jewel tones, oranges, gold and rust and burgundies of late summer and fall.
But if you’re growing for the more neutral color tones that are more popular with wedding color palettes and that pastel-hued Instagram vibe, there are a couple options available.
There’s ‘Ivory Princess’, an ivory-cream colored calendula with a dark brown eye that pairs well with the Procut White Nite sunflower of similar appearance, as well as ‘Orange Flash’, a buff-colored calendula that despite its outer edging of orange has a creamy-peachy coloration of its petals that blends well into the blush/peach/cream palette of wedding colors.
There’s also the green-centered ‘Greenheart ‘ series of calendulas that remind me of the green-centered ranunculus (albeit with orange ruffled petals) that are fun to grow, although they require a bit of design knowledge to work into arrangements well.
All of the varieties of calendula produce well - giving the best and biggest flowers in cool temperatures when the buds take longer to form and therefore create bigger blooms as opposed to the increasingly single and increasingly smaller flowers as the temperature goes up (with summer flowers almost being not worth cutting for us and being saved for salves and lotions and other products later on)
How to Grow Calendula for Cut Flowers
As I mentioned previously, calendulas are pretty easy to grow as cut flowers. They are easy to grow from seed, either in soil blocks or plugs or even direct seeded into the ground, and are prett tough, demanding only minimal watering and nutrition.
The main complaint I have regarding calendula is the fact that they are usually pretty short here - usually around 18” or so, sometimes as short as 12”, which can make arranging with them more challenging. However, they are still a pretty valuable flower to have on hand, since they do well as far as bulking out bouquets and centerpieces
Once established, calendula are decently hardy annuals in late winter/early spring so long as they get some good drainage. They don’t like wet feet and will rot if they have to sit in muddy, saturated soil but if given good drainage they’ll survive some pretty low temperatures if kept relatively sheltered. We usually grow ours close to a windbreak/shed that keeps the worst of the winds away and gives them a nice little microclimate that they thrive in.
Our calendula bloom all season long, although their best blooms are at the end of the season when the temperatures cool off and the buds take longer to open, meaning more large fluffy double flowers since they’re given more time to develop when in bud form. This works perfectly since their warmer color scheme means that they mix in well with other fall colors, and their fluffy compound form also means that they work well with the dahlias and mums that are at their best this time of year as well.
To harvest calendula, cut the stalk all the way to the base of the plant. Chances are that you’ll have to most likely strip off some side stems - some of which may be too short to really use in design work, so you can appreciate them in a bud vase or compost them. The stalk may be a bit thick, especially if it’s the first harvest of the plant, so be aware that it may take some close maneuvering to get it into place. Just know that the closer to the base you cut the calendula, the more stems it will send out in response!
When cut, calendula exude that characteristic sticky resinous sap. While great for making your skin soft and healing eczema and dry skin in the wintertime, it can get annoying during the growing season and when you’re trying to harvest stems of calendula only to have the sticky resin getting on your hands, tools and clothes. A bit of rubbing alcohol will disperse the resin quickly, and cutting them into water will help them to exude their resin prior to using them in arrangements, cutting down or even eliminating the stickiness of the stems.
Designing with Calendula
Calendula can be difficult to design with if you’re using the bolder, brighter, more saturated varieties like ‘Indian Prince’, but they do work well into arrangements that use bright and bold colors. Farmer’s market bouquets, CSA bouquets and jewel toned wedding work can all benefit from calendulas, especially the big and bold fluffy ones.
If you’re doing wedding work that require more muted, hazy, dusky tones, stick with the calendulas that have more of those desirable colors - ‘Ivory Princess’, ‘Zeolights’ and ‘Orange Flash’ being some of our favorites for designing with.
Calendula play well with other disc-shaped flowers like bachelor buttons and zinnias, and they also work well with other focal flowers like dahlias and mums. Generally speaking, most people tend to use them as small accent flowers that repeat the textures of other flowers - only scattering a few of them through a centerpiece - but they are great for bulking out arrangements given their robust texture and colors.
We still have a bit of a trouble getting longer stems early on in the season, so we keep them deadheaded until the plants start getting a bit more leggy and we can get longer stems to use in our arrangements. The stems can sometimes be a bit too straight for our liking, so we will tuck them into filler and foliage to hide their stems sometimes.
You’ll find that generally the plants remain pretty pest free, but just make sure that you harvest the flowers before they open too much - they are a favorite of pollinators, and if you want a long vase life you’ll need to grab the flowers before the insects get to it.
Calendulas are one of those flowers that I always find myself growing, even if it’s just for my personal use in design and enjoyment. How about you? Do you grow calendula? Let me know in the comments below!