How to grow borage

What is borage?

Borage is best known as a herb, grown for it's delicate blue flowers. These are plucked from the plant and sprinkled into summer drinks, such as fruit punch, where they add a refreshing cucumber-like fragrance. 

This plant is an annual, so raise plants each year, or allow it to grow from the seeds that the plants will drop in the ground each year. It is easy to grow.

There are a few other, not-widely-grown borage relatives that we explain in the section on choosing below.

Choosing borage for you garden

Here are some things to consider when choosing borage for your garden.

Colour

Commonly seen borage (Borago officionalis) is a blue-flowered annua and is usually raised from seed, although yound plants are available in spring and early summer. Additionally, Borago officionalis 'Alba' offers pure white blooms and B. officionalis 'Bill Archer' has cream variegated leaves.

Eventual size

It's worth noting the size so that you can give new plants enough room to grow and bloom in your garden.

• Borage (Borago officinalis) reaches 50-70cm (20-28in) tall, and makes a handsome, erect plant. They are shorter if the soil is dry or poor - and seedlings that germinate later in summer usually flower but will also be shorter than those that germinate in spring
• Hardy perennial B. pygmaea is a hardy perennial that only reaches 30cm (1ft) tall and has a creeping habit

Buying borage

You can buy borage (Borago officinalis) as young plants in 9cm (3½in) pots or as packets of seed for sowing in spring. Look for B. pygmaea growing in containers in the perennials (rather than the herb) section of a garden centre.

Borages are widely available in garden centres and nurseries, and from online suppliers, with a larger choice available by mail order.

Where to plant

Borage likes to grow in full sun in the ground, but will tolerate light shade. They will grow on any soil that is not waterlogged and like moist soil in summer to produce the biggest, best plants.

You can grow boarage easily in containers too. They are quite large plants, so use a pot at least 30cm (1ft) wide to ensure it's big enough to support it's size and weight.

When to plant

Plant young plants and sow seed of borage directly in the ground in spring (April/May).

It's best to plant Borago pygmaea in spring, although you can planted at any time as long as the soil is not frozen or waterlogged.

How to plant

Pot up borage using a multi-purpose peat-free compost. You can also sow seed directly into the surface of the compost in spring, see Propagation below. You'll only have room for one borage plant per 30cm (1ft) pot.

Watering

Feeding

• Borages are not hungry plants and don’t usually need additional feeding 

• However, when growing in poor or sandy soil, you can give plants a boost by feeding in spring with a general fertiliser, such as Growmore or fish, blood and bone. Always follow the instructions on the packet

Borages growing in containers should be fed annually in spring, as the nutrients in the compost soon run out (usually after about six weeks).

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Caring for old plants

Growing from seed

Borages are very easily to grow from seed and you don't need a greenhouse to raise them. You can buy packets of seed or sow seed you have collected yourself.

• Collect the ripe seeds are hard and black, and contained within the remains of the old flowers. These appear as the flowers fade from mid summer. Simply pick out or shake off the seed into a paper bag
• Store the ripe, dry seeds in a tin in a cool room, or in an air tight container in the fridge
• In April, sow them in seed trays and pots, then keep at a temperature of 15˚C (59˚F), and plant these out when large enough to handle.
• Alternatively, sow the seeds directly in the ground - this is often the easiest method.

• The herb borage can get powdery mildew later in summer. This is usually when the plants have largely finished flowering, so simply pull up these plants and compost