Calendula

Description/Breeding Goals:

Delicate, buttery yellow flowers with dark or yellow centers. I have been selecting for the yellow centers and will be working to increase the proportion of yellow centers on the daisy-like bloom shapes in the future.

Blooms profusely in spring, slowing down in the heat of summer, and increasing again in the fall until hard frost. Loved by pollinators!

Fast to bloom from seed - blooms in 50-60 days from germination!

These are great in the cottage or landscape garden - they will gently self seed to fill gaps in the garden, but are easy to control if needed.

They also make good cutting flowers.

Breeder's notes:

These seeds are from a "landrace" population developed at Windfall Flowers over multiple seasons. A landrace begins by growing multiple varieties of a species from multiple sources together and allowing them to cross pollinate. This maximizes diversity in the population (increased diversity means healthier plants!). From this diverse population, the healthiest and most beautiful plants are selected to harvests seeds from for the next generation. Over multiple generations, this process creates a population (a landrace) that is strong, healthy, well adapted to the local climate (hot, dry summers) and fits a certain aesthetic scheme.

The seeds from this population will not produce uniform, identical plants. It will produce a diverse range of plants from which you can select your favorites!

Details:

• Approx. 50 seeds
• Calendula officinalis
• Open pollinated
• Annual; self seeds gently (easy to control)
  
• Direct seeding is recommended
  
• Germinates in 7-14 days at 70 F
• If transplanting, start 4 weeks before last frost and transplant after last frost.
• Plant in sun/part shade 
  
• Space 6-9 inches
• Variable height, approx. 18-36 inches tall