Calendulas don’t have a large palette of exotic sounding colours. Nor is its design particularly flamboyant or unique. What Calendula does offer however is a ray of bright sunshine in an otherwise bleak winter landscape. A bed of orange and yellow Calendulas in full bloom will brighten up even the coldest of days.
You might know calendulas as the pot marigold. But don’t confuse them with marigolds. Calendula officinalis belongs to the Asteraceae family which is probably the largest family of flowering plants with over 25,000 species. In Southern Africa we find at least 2,300 of these species. Calendula is native to southern Europe although it is has now naturalised across the world in the more temperate regions.
