Calendula is a beautiful daisy-like flower typically seen in yellow and orange. This flower is versatile and has been used for centuries. Calendula is edible and has many medicinal uses. You can collect the petals and use them in tea. You can add the petals into soap or infuse the petals into oil and make a cream or salve. Calendula flowers possess healing properties such wound healing and anti- inflammatory properties and is anti-microbial to fight infection. Making a salve and applying it to burns, wounds and rashes is very beneficial. I purchased calendulas from a local hardware store- most of the time people will call them marigolds but technically they aren't true marigold flowers. Personally, I love to use calendula oil in my homemade diaper rash cream. If you read the ingredient list on natural and organic baby products, it's likely that you will see calendula in the product. It's effective yet gentle enough for baby. After I made the calendula diaper rash cream I quickly found that its very effective for all types of skin irritations including acne.
The bloom on this flower was fading so I thought this would be perfect to pick petals from. You don't have to wait until the flower is dying. You can also pick the flower when it is in full bloom.
Pick petals in the late morning after the dew has dried.
The color of these petals are so vibrant. Calendula petals have been used for dyes.
Later on I will be creating a post about drying calendula, making infused oil and using the oil for diaper creams and bath soaps. These are pictures of soaps I made last winter. In the soaps, I added some calendula oil and whole calendula petals. They feel great and look beautiful.
Stay tuned....
Stay tuned....