I thought this marigold square deserved another outing – essence of orange as visual infusion. And yes, I know. I keep writing about this particular cottage garden pharmacopoeia, so just to prove I’m not some old wife telling ill founded tales, here’s a scientific paper that highlights calendula’s potential for all manner of human ills, and calls for a thorough investigation of likely benefits. The list of this plant’s phytoconstituents is breath-taking:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3841996/
The paper also points out that pot marigold, Calendula officinalis, is used clinically around the globe, especially for skin complaints. This has been so for hundreds of years. It would certainly have been found in the monastic physic garden, and the medieval wife would also have grown it in her kitchen garden, since she was the one responsible for dealing with family ills in an era when ordinary folk had to shift for themselves when it came to illness.
Anyway, just looking at my current marigold horde at the allotment cheers me up. So here’s a further dose:
Tish Farrell 
well you are cheering us up to by sharing it again – and maybe I should try some of my last marigolds on my skin. Been wearing masks lots recently and my skin is not happy!
Oh dear. You can buy ready made marigold cream from Baldwins the Herbalists.
thanks for that tip, I may well sort that on our return
I reckon just looking at marigolds is enough to lift the spirits 😀
Just my thought too, Sarah.
We all may need to get back to the garden RX.
Beautiful close up!
Thank you.
That’s an interesting report. I often wonder how ancient people discovered how plants could affect the body It seems so unlikely, yet it evidently happened over and over again.
Well I guess we had around 10 million years of evolution to work it out, Susan, and clearly some potions were more about sympathetic magic than therapeutic qualities. But then even animals gravitate to certain plants when not very well. And elephants know how to treat their mineral deficiencies. Industrial medicine is pretty new in the scheme of things.
My mother’s bearded collie used to treat himself with grass or creeping campanulas when he felt ill. He seemed an unusually wise dog.
They certainly made my day brighter and better. Marigolds are good companion plants as well from what I’ve read.
I think the good companions are the French marigold varieties, Janet. They have a distinctive scent that is said to disguise the presence of crops like carrots from nasty little root flies.
Ahh. Well, pretty anyway. 😉
Well it does have it’s other benefits 🙂
Glorious colours, Tish!
Nothing like a bit of glow.
🎃💕
Beautiful, indeed! Good to know how it can help the skin problem Thank you for the link, Tish.
Thanks, Amy.