Grow Borage as an Ornamental or Herb in Your Garden (2024)

Sparkling sky-blue blooms dance atop the fuzzy stems and leaves of annual borage. Harvest this herb's edible flowers to beautify salads, summer drinks, or desserts. Toss borage blooms onto fanned tomato and mozzarella slices for a festive 4th of July feast. Freeze flowers in ice cubes to decorate drinks with cool color. Use the leaves (which taste somewhat like cucumber) in salads and cold drinks. The noticeable bristly “hairs” dissolve when borage is cooked. When eating it raw, choose young blooms.

Borage is toxic when ingested by dogs, cats, and horses.

Where to Plant Borage

Plant this herb, which is native to the Middle East, Mediterranean, and North Africa, in your garden in full sun to part shade. Give borage a sheltered location to protect it from strong winds that could break its stem or blow it over. Planting borage in the herb garden adds height above parsley, thyme, oregano, and other ground-hugging herbs. Borage is also a valuable addition to the perennial garden, where its clean, medium-green foliage is a verdant backdrop for lilies, roses, and a host of bold-flowering perennial plants. Borage grows well in containers and blooms indoors when given heat and lots of light.

How and When to Plant Borage

Sow borage seeds directly in the garden right after the last spring frost.

Prepare the planting bed for borage by loosening the soil and removing all the weeds. Direct-sow borage in a location that receives at least six hours of direct sunlight after the threat of frost has passed. Cover the seeds with ½ inch of soil. Water the seeds well. The seeds germinate in five to 10 days.

Direct sowing in the garden is preferred because the seedlings develop long taproots, making them tough to transplant. However, the seeds can also be sown indoors 4 to 6 weeks before the last predicted spring frost.

After the seedlings are established, thin them to stand 12 to 18 inches apart. The plants reach maturity in June or early July and bloom until the first frost.

Borage Care Tips

Borage is an easy-to-grow herb that requires little maintenance and attracts pollinators. As it ages, this annual develops a somewhat loose habit and may benefit from staking to remain upright in late summer.

Light

Borage prospers in full sun and should receive at least six hours of direct sunlight daily. The plant tolerates part shade.

Soil and Water

Borage grows best in dry to medium-moist, well-drained soil. It tolerates a variety of soil conditions, including quick-draining sand and heavy clay but produces its best lush, leafy growth and a bevy of flowers in well-drained loam.The borage plant rarely needs watering after it is established, but water it during extended periods of drought.

Temperature and Humidity

Borage is drought-tolerant and thrives in a sheltered area. It handles the summer heat but rarely survives a frost. The borage plant is tolerant of humidity as long as its soil has good drainage.

Fertilizer

Borage usually doesn’t require fertilization, but if it grows in poor soil, it benefits from an application of organic fertilizer suitable for edible plants. A product that contains phosphorous improves flower production. Follow the product instructions.

Pruning

Borage doesn’t require much pruning. As the season progresses, the side stems tend to get heavy and eventually break off. Cut them back to the main stem, which encourages the growth of new side shoots.

Potting and Repotting

Borage grows and flowers indoors in containers if given heat and plenty of light. Choose a container at least 12 inches wide and deep that offers excellent drainage. Fill it with well-draining, loamy soil and add a single seedling or a seed. The annual won’t need to be repotted, but it will likely self-seed at the end of its life; remove all but one of the volunteer seedlings to continue to enjoy the plant indoors.

Pests and Problems

Borage is seldom affected by insects or diseases. Pollinators are attracted to the sweet nectar of the plant’s flowers. It is a hardy, deer-resistant plant that reproduces and spreads rapidly. The borage plant is prone to powdery mildew, so maintain enough space between the plants for air to flow through.

How to Propagate Borage

Borage faithfully returns from seed each year, quickly filling in empty spaces unless you deadhead the flowers or pull the volunteer seedlings in spring, so you may not need to propagate the plants at all. If that is not the case, collect the seeds from an existing plant or take stem cuttings to propagate borage.

Seeds: Each bloom usually contains four seeds that don’t all mature at the same time. They start out white and mature to black when they are ready for harvest. The best way to collect the seeds is to put a tray, box lid, or container on the ground under the plant and wait for the seeds to fall, which they do when they are ready. Flicking the blooms gently can encourage the seeds to fall.

Cuttings: Prepare a bed with well-draining sandy soil. Take 3 4-inch stem tip cuttings from the borage plant. Remove foliage from the bottom half and dip the cuttings in rooting hormone. Insert them into the prepared bed and keep them lightly moist until they root. This method usually works better than rooting the herb in individual pots because seedlings don’t transplant well.

Harvesting Borage

Pluck tender young leaves as needed at any time during the growing season. The entire plant can be harvested as soon as it begins to flower.

Harvest the vibrant blue flowers as edible decorations or add them to cut flower arrangements.

Use fresh borage during the spring and summer because the herb doesn’t dry well for culinary use, and its leaves lose their flavor when dried.

Types of Borage

Common Borage

Borago officinalis, or common borage, is easily recognizable in the herb garden by its spectacular blue blooms (the only other color is white). This plant—with its beautiful blue flowers—is the one most gardeners recognize as borage and most likely to be found in the local garden center.

White Borage

Borago officinalis ‘Alba’ has intense white flowers on sturdy stalks rather than the recognizable blue ones, but it is just as useful in the herb garden. It usually blooms later in the season than its cousin with sky-blue flowers. Like its better-known relative, it has a flavor and scent that resembles cucumber and attracts pollinators.

Variegated Borage

Borago officinalis ‘Variegata’ is a rare cultivar that has white blotches on its green leaves and displays delicate blue flowers.As with other borage types, it attracts pollinators and has a mild cucumber scent and flavor.

Borage Companion Plants

Squash

Squash plants rely on insect pollinators to fruit, but when pollinators are absent, squash vines often produce flowers but no fruit. Borage increases pollinator activity in the garden because bees and other beneficial insects are attracted to borage flowers. Borage planted near squash may also deter squash pests.

Strawberries

Planting borage near strawberry plants increases the strawberries' resistance to disease by repelling damaging insects and attracting beneficial insects and pollinators to the strawberry bed. Strawberry farmers often plant some borage in their fields to enhance the flavor and yield of the strawberries.

Tomatoes

If you plant borage near tomato plants, borage improves the growth of tomatoes because it attracts bees and other beneficial insects to the garden. Borage is also known for discouraging worms from preying on tomatoes. Plant small bush tomato varieties 24 inches apart and larger varieties 36 to 48 inches apart.