Playtime Calendula is a vibrant heirloom flower mix that lives up to its playful name, delivering an explosion of warm tones from creamy pastels to bright orange, pink, and bronze across 45 to 65 days. This hardy annual thrives in zones 6 through 11 and produces an abundance of single, semi-double, and fully double petals that bloom generously over an extended season. Self-seeding and frost-tolerant, it's a low-maintenance choice that returns year after year in the garden.
Full Sun
Moderate
6-11
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High
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Baker Creek describes this as the best calendula mixture they've grown, and the reason is clear: the sheer variety packed into a single packet. You get warm pastels alongside vivid oranges, pinks, and bronzes all flowering simultaneously, with petals ranging from simple single forms to elaborate doubles that look like tiny pompoms. The plant produces loads of blooms over a long season, and its ability to self-seed means you'll find volunteers popping up the following year without replanting.
Playtime Calendula is grown primarily for its visual impact in flower gardens and borders. The abundant blooms in multiple forms and warm color tones make it a cheerful choice for cottage gardens, containers, and cutting gardens where its prolific flowering sustains bouquets throughout the season.
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Start seeds indoors 6 to 8 weeks before your last spring frost. Sow at a soil temperature of 65 to 70°F and keep consistently moist until germination, which occurs in 7 to 14 days. Transplant seedlings outdoors after the last frost when soil has warmed.
Transplant seedlings outdoors after the last frost date in your zone. Space plants 10 inches apart in full sun. Hardening off is recommended: gradually expose seedlings to outdoor conditions over 7 to 10 days before final planting.
Direct sow seeds outdoors after the last frost date. Press seeds 1/4 inch deep into prepared soil and water gently. Thin seedlings to 10 inches apart once they develop their first true leaves.
Deadhead spent flowers regularly to extend blooming and encourage bushier growth. No formal pruning is necessary, though removing spent flower heads keeps plants looking tidy and productive throughout the season.
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“Calendula officinalis has a long tradition as a functional flower in kitchen gardens and herb collections, valued for centuries across European and Mediterranean regions. The Playtime mix represents a modern selection focused on ornamental abundance, bringing together diverse color forms and petal structures into a single packet. By celebrating both single and double-petaled varieties in one mix, this cultivar honors calendula's dual nature as both a practical plant and a garden showpiece.”