Michigan Calendulas

Also called pot marigold, calendula is one of the most easygoing cut flowers our farmers grow, opening ruffled, many-petaled blooms in warm shades of orange, gold, apricot, and coppery bronze. The flowers carry a soft, resinous herbal scent and a friendly, slightly rustic look that feels equally at home in a jar on the kitchen counter or tucked into a layered autumn arrangement.

Calendula is not native to Michigan. It is probably native to southern Europe, and in our cold-winter climate it is grown as a cool-season annual rather than a perennial. That quirk works in the flower’s favor here, because our member farmers can sow it for the cooler shoulders of the season, when many summer flowers struggle, and its open, daisy-like blooms give visiting insects an easy place to land.

Buying calendula from our collective means stems cut that same morning by a farmer just up the road, harvested at the stage that holds longest in the vase rather than the stage that ships best. Local cutting also keeps the unusual apricot, cream, and coppery tones on the table, colors grown for beauty instead of durability. Reserve a DIY bucket for barn pickup, ask us to fold calendula into a mixed bucket, or let our floral designers build it into an arrangement for you.