Calendula: The Gentle Healer in Your Garden
What Is Calendula?
How Calendula Supports the Skin
Ways I Use Calendula in My Products
A Flower I’ll Always Trust
Calendula: The Gentle Healer in Your Garden
by [Natalie Kennedy]
There’s a flower I come back to again and again in my herbal practice—and in my own family care. She’s bright, sunny, and unassuming, but make no mistake: she’s one of the most powerful gentle healers I know.
Her name is calendula (Calendula officinalis), and she’s the golden heart of many of the remedies I make, especially for sensitive skin, baby care, and everyday healing.
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Plant Family:
Asteraceae (Daisy Family)
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What Is Calendula?
Calendula is often called “pot marigold,” though she’s not a true marigold at all. With her vivid orange and yellow petals, calendula brings cheer wherever she grows—but her real beauty lies in what she offers beneath the surface.
She’s been used for centuries in traditional herbal medicine for her anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and skin-repairing properties.
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Active Compounds:
Contains flavonoids, triterpenoids, and carotenoids, contributing to her antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antimicrobial properties.
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How Calendula Supports the Skin
What makes calendula so special is her ability to gently soothe while deeply restoring. She’s often one of the first herbs I recommend for delicate skin because she’s both effective and safe—even for babies.
Here’s how she helps:
• Soothes inflammation
Think rashes, eczema, bug bites, and diaper areas. Calendula cools and calms.
• Promotes wound healing
She helps stimulate tissue repair and reduce scarring, promotes the formation of granular tissue (the connective tissue and microscopic vessels that form to heal a wound) making healing time quicker for cuts, scrapes and minor burns.
Antiseptic
Reduces infections due to high iodine content
• Moisturizes + protects
When infused in oils, calendula delivers deep nourishment and helps protect the skin barrier.
Fun Fact
The Calendula Plant received its name from the ancient Romans. They noted that the plant bloomed on the first day or “calends” of every month and named them “Calendula”
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Ways I Use Calendula in My Products
I often infuse calendula into oils as a base for:
• Baby balms
• Lotion bars
• Herbal salves
• Gentle soaps
• Nursing mama blends
The infusion process is slow and intentional. I steep the dried petals in oil over time to draw out her goodness, the jar is placed in a sunny location for a minimum of 12 weeks to obtain a highly potent Solar Infusion—each batch is made with care, just like the first one I ever made for my baby girl.
Other ways to use
As a Tea in a blend for skin support
Calendula petals are edible and can be used fresh or dried to add color and a slightly bitter flavor to salads, soups and rice dishes.
Dye: the petals as a natural dye and had been historically used as a substitute for saffron.
Hair Rinse for reddish-blonde hair
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Allergies:
Individuals allergic to plants in the Asteraceae family ( e.g. ragweed, daisies) should avoid calendula.
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Energetic & Emotional Support
Calendula is a flower of comfort. She brings warmth to sadness, calm to chaos, and softness to sore places—physically and emotionally.
I’ve always felt that she carries the energy of a nurturer.
She’s for the mamas, the babies, the wounded hearts, and the everyday warriors.
She shows up gently—and stays until the healing takes hold.
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A Flower I’ll Always Trust
Calendula has earned a permanent place in my apothecary and my heart. Whether you’re creating your own salves at home or looking for a product you can trust on your family’s skin, know this:
If calendula is in it, care was considered.
*If you’re interested in exploring calendula products, here are some options to consider.
