Calendula is an easy to grow annual flower that rewards gardeners with beautiful blooms, medicinal benefits, protection from pests, and food for pollinators. It’s no wonder calendula has a long, rich history of cultivation! For medicinal uses, harvest when flowers are fully open. Calendula’s sticky resin (found on leaves and flower calyx) is prized in Western remedies and the whole plant can be used in various applications from tinctures to oils. Calendula’s bright, cheerful flowers are harvested to make salves and hair rinses as well as an edible dye and saffron alternative. For fresh eating, most people prefer the mild flavour of the petals, which are rich in vitamins but do not have the bitterness from the resin.