Calendula is a garden and body power house. If you don’t grow it you should. A member of the Asteraceae family. It flowers most of the year including months where not much else does, loves most types of soil and in our experience has no issues with wet clay soils.
Its a power house in the garden not just because of its vibrant orange and yellow flowers but because it attracts pollinators, butterflies in particular love it. Great as a companion plant, we have it plenty of it around our roses, as it attracts ladybugs and is poisonous to aphids. Around our tomatoes it repels whiteflies. Plant it for colour, cut flowers, weed suppression if planted densely,
For the body the brightly coloured flowers are rich in flavonoids which have demonstrated anti-inflammatory, and potential anti-thrombogenic, antidiabetic, anticancer, and neuroprotective activities. I’m not aware of any peer reviewed studies on the latter properties though there is a lot of positivity and steep history of use. Dry the flowers in the sun or good dehydrator and use to make tea, or add the petals directly to salads to enjoy the benefits.