Calendula

Calendula is a very popular garden plant that demands little in terms of location and care. If left to its own devices, it takes care of itself and reseeds year after year. Thus, our eyes and hearts can delight in its radiant yellow and orange colours from early summer through to late autumn. The luminosity of the colours expresses pure zest for life and true warmth of the senses.

A larger area densely covered with calendula flowers radiates an unbroken vitality that is scarcely surpassed. One can almost see before the inner eye how the intense field of life energy above the surface of the flower weaves in broad movement. It is not only the flowers that have a special relationship to the periphery. When holding a bundle of cut plants and pressing them gently several times, one notices a slightly sticky, balsamic substance that covers all parts of the plant and spreads a wonderfully warm aroma.

Having spoken above of the unbroken vitality and fertility of calendula, we must also mention that the inner tubular florets of the flower head (Calendula belongs to the daisy family) are infertile. A contradiction? No, a wonderful sign of the signature, for here we learn the origin of the calendula’s name.

Its fruits curl and coil and vary greatly in size. The fruits of the fertile ray florets all curve more or less inward until they completely cover the entire infertile inner surface. If one does not examine this closely, one would never guess that the calendula fruits do not come from the entire flower disc. Another “sealing mechanism” is noticeable when collecting flowers and cutting them at the stem.

After a short time, a white, sealing coating forms at the cut surface. Plant sap oozing from the cut point solidifies into a compact layer. It goes without saying that a plant with such an impressive essence does not only excel in sealing physical wounds. Emotional wounds also find relief through this sun-like plant.