Calendula

It came to me unexpectedly, in an 'annual flower' seed mix that, I think, was a freebie with a vegetable seed order back in 2005 or 2006.  Just starting a flowerbed behind the garage at the time, I tossed the contents of that free package onto the soil and lightly raked in the seeds.  Mostly weeds came up, but I did get some statice and some very robust looking calendula.

The statice evidently didn't set enough seed that year to ever come back in subsequent springs.  The calendula, however, did. 

 And did again.  And again.  Now I have so much calendula that it's taking over that flowerbed.

 It's pretty.  It's sunny looking.  It grows really really well. It blooms profusely from June until a hard freeze somewhere around Thanksgiving.  And, supposedly, it has a myriad of uses, from cut flowers to herbal salves to tinctures to skin toner to tea to dyeing wool or fabric.  The petals are edible, and I recently read they can be used as a substitution for saffron.

Sounds like I have a great opportunity for some more experimentation here: learn how to use calendula!