Results! Sowing calendula late to avoid aphids

Calendula flowers nice and dry in November, thanks to a windstorm.

A week ago, I found myself out in a wind storm, in November, picking flowers for my best calendula harvest of the year. With our heavy rains, I had written any further harvests off but the wind gave me the gift of dry flowers! I grow calendula for use in herbal medicine, particularly for a face oil and to have on hand for a hand bath or poultice if someone gets a gnarly cut. When I have grown calendula in the past, I have had major issues with aphids. They worked so well to attract aphids, they might have been considered a trap crop. This year, more out of neglect than anything, I did not sow my calendula until mid-summer. The end result was a beautiful aphid-free multi-month fall harvest.

While aphids can have multiple generations per year, they often do the most damage in late spring, as temperatures become warm but before the heat of summer. In my area, this would be about the time calendula started to bloom. Picking flowers from plants covered in aphids and honeydew soot is not the holistic experience we all have in mind. This year, even though I have aphids elsewhere in the garden, my calendula plants were left entirely alone. I am not entirely certain whether this was because the plants were simply healthier and happier with the late start, making them less likely to attract pests, or if I managed to skip the worst part of the aphid lifecycle. Perhaps my predator populations were at their peak as the plants matured. Regardless, I am thrilled with the result and will be making sure I make a mid-summer sowing of calendula each year.

Ready for drying