Calendula, or pot marigold, is a perky, very hardy plant usually grown as an annual, but wintering over here in zone 8b. The plants that I have started from a free pack that was sent with some mail ordered seeds about ten years ago. I planted them around the raised vegetable beds to the south of the greenhouse and they’ve been with me ever since through volunteer seedlings.

These might be the easiest plants of all to grow from seed, and they pack a lot of flower punch over the course of the warm months and the not-so-warm months of November and December.

You don’t really choose your future with calendula plants–they are just always there once you’ve planted them. I cultivated one of the raised veggie beds this autumn and now there are dozens of calendula seedlings braving the cold soil there and growing on the warm days. I will keep them around just for the cheery blooms and the confidence they instill–when all my vegetable plantings fail, at least there are nice-looking pot marigolds around to make me feel like my efforts weren’t all in vain.