15 Reasons To Grow Borage + Ways To Use It

         Written by Elizabeth Waddington

Borage is often mentioned in organic gardening circles. It is considered by many to be a wonderful plant, which can find pride of place in many gardens. But what exactly is so great about this plant? What is borage? What are the reasons to grow it in your garden?

And how exactly should you use it in your garden (and once it is harvested)?

  Read on to find out. 

What is Borage?

Borage is the common name for Borago officinalis. It is also known as starflower.

This is an annual flowering plant. It flowers from around June right through to October in most temperate climates and grows to around two feet in height at a medium rate.

In warmer climes it may even bloom almost continuously for most of the year.

Borage is native to the Mediterranean region and has naturalized elsewhere. It grows very well in gardens across Europe and is also common in kitchen gardens across North America.

The plant is hairy all over its stems and leaves. The flowers are star-like, with five, narrow, triangular-pointed petals. These beautiful flowers are generally blue, though pink flowers are occasionally also observed, and there are also white-flowered cultivars.

The flowers are generally a deeper blue when the plants are grown in poorer soil conditions.

Borage is relatively unfussy when it comes to growing conditions.

It can cope with almost all soil types, including soils low in nutritional content. The plant can also cope with a range of soil pH levels, even very alkaline soils.

It can survive with very free-draining soils and is relatively drought tolerant. And can be grown in full sun, or light or dappled shade.

Borage is best grown from seed. Sow seeds under cover and plant them out once weather has begun to warm, or direct sow seeds where they are to grow after the last frost date in your area.

Sow once, this annual will then readily self-seed if left to its own devices.

 Why Grow Borage in Your Garden?

There are a great many reasons why you should consider growing borage in your garden. It is useful both while it is in growth, and as a crop for harvesting.

Here are just 15 reasons to grow borage in your garden:

1. Borage is an Edible Crop

One of the main reasons to grow borage in your garden is as an edible crop.

You can eat the leaves, raw or cooked, and the flowers, raw, as a garnish or in drinks. The dried stems can also be used for flavoring, and the seeds yield an oil that is particularly high in gamma-linolenic acid. 

We’ll talk a little more about how you can use borage as an edible crop a little later in this article.

Not only does it taste great, it is also a common ingredient in herbal medicine, and can be great for your health. 

A couple of caveats to mention, however: people with liver problems would be best to avoid eating these plants.

And no one should make borage a major part of their diet, as it does contain small quantities of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in tiny quantities.  That said, you will generally find that borage is a useful addition to your home-grown diet. 

2. Borage Looks Beautiful 

Wherever you choose to grow it, borage is beautiful as well as useful. Blooming over a long portion of the year, borage can bring a cheery splash of blue to your garden. Its delicate flowers stand out against a sea of green and can add to the visual amenity of your space.

They can add floral beauty to:

• Your vegetable beds or kitchen garden.
• Dedicated herb gardens.
• A fruit tree guild.
• Planting areas around fruit bushes or fruiting canes (or largely perennial polycultures).
• An ornamental bed or border in your garden.

3. It Self-Seeds Readily So Pops Up Year After Year

One of the interesting things about borage is that, even though it is an annual, it will generally, once planted, remain in your garden for years. Borage, when left to set seed, will generally self-seed very readily.

So once you have planted some in your garden, you should find that it seeds itself and pops up all around your growing areas year after year. 

While self-seeding plants are not always ideal for very neat and tidy gardeners, borage is such a useful plant that gardeners are often happy to let it naturalize around their gardens.

It is worthwhile remembering that self-seeding annuals and a good mixture of perennial plants are ideal for a low-maintenance garden. So, borage can be a great choice for those with limited time, who want to create a garden where there is less to do each year. 

4. Borage is a Dynamic Accumulator

Borage has the ability to dynamically gather nutrients from the soil. This can help reduce nutrient leaching and make sure that nutrients are gathered and stored.

Borage is said to be particularly beneficial in accumulating potassium.

While scientific evidence on dynamic accumulation is often scant, it could be worthwhile considering borage in this capacity. 

 5. So, It Can Also Be Great as Mulch

Since borage captures and stores nutrients (such as potassium) effectively from the soil, it can be beneficial when chopped and dropped around other garden plants as mulch.

Borage can be beneficial as a mulch around a range of common crops and may be particularly beneficial for flowering and fruiting plants. Mulching with organic plant material adds to the nutrients available in the soil for the uptake of other plants. It also improves the soil quality, reduces weeds, and aids in water retention. 

6. Or On The Compost Heap

As chopped plants, you can also add borage to your compost heap or other composting system. 

As a nitrogen rich green material, which is also high in potassium and other essential plant nutrients, borage can help all the materials in the heap to break down. 

Adding borage to your compost heap can also help make sure you have a nutrient-rich and well-balanced compost at the end of the process. 

7. Or When Used To Make a Liquid Fertilizer for Your Plants

Another way to use chopped borage is to make your own liquid fertilizer or liquid plant feed for your growing areas. Liquid fertilizers can be made using a range of different weeds and garden plants. They can give your crops a quick boost and help maintain fertility in your growing areas.

You can use borage alone or combine it with other weeds from your garden for a nutrient rich weed tea that provides other plants with a wider range of different nutrients. 

8. Borage Helps Break Up and Aerate the Soil

This plant’s roots have a simple structure, but the way in which they penetrate the soil can help to break it up and aerate it.  Borage, therefore, can be a good choice in regions prone to compaction. A cover crop of borage could help to improve the soil quality before other crops are grown. 

And by self-seeding prolifically, borage can help to cover areas of bare soil and fill in patches in your growing areas. The more you can cover soil, the more you will protect the fragile and essential ecosystem it contains. 

9. Borage is Great for Bees

But perhaps the most important function borage fulfils in a garden is as a boon to bees and pollinators.

We are currently in a worrying period of mass extinction. Many bee species and other pollinating insects are endangered. Without these insects, we would not be able to grow much of our food without immense effort. 

It is vital that we protect biodiversity whenever we can.

As gardeners and growers, one of the things we can do is make sure we have flowers in bloom for pollinators throughout the year. Since borage can be in bloom over such a long season, it is a particularly beneficial bee-friendly plant. Bees are also attracted to borage flowers in preference to those of many other plants.

Bees tend to be attracted to purple/ blue flowers, and the simple structure of borage flowers means that the nectar is easy for bees and other pollinators to access. 

10. So, It Also Aids in Effective Pollination

What is great for the bees is great for the gardener or grower too. By planting bee-attractant plants like borage, we can make sure that pollinators are around to pollinate our crops.

Many of the common plants we grow depend on insects for pollination. So planting borage close to those plants can make a big difference to the yields that we get. 

The pollinator attracting properties of borage are one of the main reasons why it makes such a great companion plant for a range of crops. To aid pollination, borage can be a great addition all around your property. 

11. It’s Also a Trap Crop for Aphids

But there are also other reasons why borage is such a good companion plant. One other great thing about borage is that it attracts aphids.

You may not immediately think of this as a good thing. But since it draws aphids to it, this plant can serve as a useful trap crop. Aphids will be drawn preferentially to your borage, which can keep them away from your other crops. 

12. And All Those Aphids Attract Other Beneficial Insects

Another thing to consider is that since they attract aphids and other pest species, they also attract a range of other, more beneficial insects.

Insects like ladybugs and lacewings that prey on aphids will be drawn to their food source.

And having these beneficial bugs in your garden can help maintain a balance in the garden ecosystem overall. 

13. It May Also Deter Certain Pests

While the evidence is largely anecdotal, some gardeners swear that borage can also repel or deter certain pests, such as tomato hornworm, and cabbage moths, for example.

Whether or not borage really does repel these pests, it could be worth a try planting it as a companion plant for vulnerable crops. 

Even if it does not actually repel these pests, borage will still have the other benefits mentioned on this list. 

14. Borage is Great for Birds Too

Once borage goes to seed, the seed also provides food for a range of creatures, including a number of seed-eating bird species, such as finches.

Attracting birds to your garden will help keep the ecosystem in balance, and help maintain a healthy biodiversity in your garden. 

15. Including Backyard Chickens

And wild birds are not the only creatures which could benefit. Your feathered backyard flock will also enjoy eating borage.

It can be a useful addition to your hens’ foraged diet, or can be chopped and tossed into their run to give your chickens a healthy treat. 

15. Companion Planting With Borage So, now you have a much better idea of the reasons to grow borage in your garden, let’s take a little time to explore in a little more depth how you might use it.

The first and most common way to use borage in your garden design is as a companion plant.

Borage is a common companion plant for a wide range of different fruits and vegetables. In fact, borage can be a good ‘nurse’ plant throughout your garden and works well with almost any plant.

In particular, for some of the reasons mentioned above, borage is said to be a particularly good companion plant for:

• Cabbages (and other brassicas)
• Beans
• Cucumber
• Fruit trees (and fruit bushes and canes)
• Squash
• Strawberries
• Tomatoes

For example, borage might be included as part of a polyculture with tomatoes and squash, as in the link below.

A Companion Planting Trio @ thespruce.com

Using Borage in Crop Rotation/ As a Cover Crop

Another way to incorporate borage into your garden plan is to use it as a green manure or cover crop, which gathers nutrients, protects the soil and attracts beneficial wildlife before being chopped and dropped to feed the soil ready for the next crop in rotation. 

Using Borage as an Edible Crop

Borage is such a useful plant in the garden, while growing and when harvested, that you may not immediately turn your attention to its uses elsewhere on your homestead.

But whatever else you choose to do with it, it is worthwhile keeping a few plants aside to use in your kitchen.

As mentioned above, borage can also be a useful edible crop. So how can be use it?

Here are a few examples demonstrating the different ways that the leaves and flowers can be used:

Borage Recipes

Mixed Herb Salad With Borage @ food.com.

Cucumber Salad With Borage Flowers @ allrecipes.com.

Cucumber and Borage Canapés @ growntocook.com.

Sandwiches @ food.com.

Borage Cucumber Salad Dressing @ tasteofhome.com.

Raita @ sophies-table.com.

Pasta With Borage @ eatsmarter.com.

Quiche @ ladittatrice.wordpress.com.

Borage Leaf, Pea and Mint Soup @ theseasonaltable.co.uk.

What is more, borage is also used in a number of different drinks. It is a common garnish for the UK drink ‘Pimms’ and for lemonade.

For cool cocktails in summer, you can freeze borage flowers in ice cubes then add them to your beverages.

Borage is also used to make a soothing tea.

Traditionally, borage tea is used as a herbal remedy for depression and melancholia.

In herbal medicine, an infusion is taken internally to treat fevers, chest problems and kidney problems.

It is also used in the regulation of female cycles and to promote good heart health. (Though if you plan on using herbal remedies on a regular basis, it is always best to work with a qualified herbal medicine practitioner.)

Other Uses for Borage

Borage is also used externally in herbal medicine to treat inflammatory swellings. You can make a poultice to sooth the skin.

Borage Poultice @ herbclass.com.

If the seeds are harvested, these can be used to create borage oil, which is extremely rich in gamma-linolenic acid (an essential fatty acid) also known as vitamin F. Borage oil has been shown to have a beneficial effect for those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.

Borage oil can also be used in making soap, and in making a range of other skin care products. You can also simply add a few leaves or flowers to a number of other soap recipes, such as the one below:

Cucumber and Borage Soap @ thenerdyfarmwife.com.

Finally, borage flowers can be used to make a dye – either for edible recipes, or for dyeing fabric. The flowers work especially well for blue dyes when frozen.

As you can see, there are plenty of reasons to give borage some space in your garden. So why not get some seeds and plant some in your garden! 

Mexican Sunflower-(Tithonia): To Plant or Not To Plant

(Picture of Tithonia by Jeff Schalau)

Sharing is fun, especially when it comes from the garden. Of course I enjoy sharing produce with others, but my real love is in sharing flowers. It is an activity I can do with my wife that brings joy to our family, friends, and neighbors. I plant and raise the flowers, and my wife arranges them in mason jars to give away to whoever needs them. Maybe they just had a baby or just lost a loved one. Maybe they are sick or just had surgery. Or maybe they just need a pick-me-up or something to smile about. My wife and I were blessed to share our flower arrangements with 47 people last year.

I am always looking for new flowers to share. One flower I started using two years ago is Tithonia Rotundifolia of the Asteraceae family, commonly known as Mexican Sunflower. It has much the same open growth habit as of regular sunflowers. It grows over 6 feet tall and has vibrant orange/red, 3-to-4-inch flowers with a yellow center. They are beautiful in arrangements.

This year I hoped to still use Tithonia, but first I wanted to check out the allelopathic detriment Tithonia may have on other plants around it. The 2024 CCMG manual glossary defines allelopathy as: “The excretion by some plants’ leaves and roots of compounds that inhibit the growth of other plants.” 

Jeff Schalau, an agent of agriculture for the University of Arizona, reported, “In my garden this year, the Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia) looks to have had serious allelopathic effects on my adjacent lettuce bed. The lettuce plants within four feet of the Tithonia are noticeably stunted.” 

(Picture of the affected lettuce)

(Plot growing the same lettuce seed but isolated from Tithonia)

Good thing I don’t grow lettuce. Although Tithonia can have negative effects on other plants (Schalau also mentions legumes and cereals), it appears that it is only within close proximity. In my own garden, beans and tomatoes were planted about 10 feet away from the Tithonia but produced great, as did chard, peas, and peppers.

So of what benefit is Tithonia? As the North Carolina state extension Gardener Toolbox discusses, one of its ecological positives is its role as a pollinator. It is commonly used in gardens to attract butterflies, hummingbirds, songbirds, and other pollinators. I remember in my garden last year I had to pick them early each day before the plants were covered with bees. 

Now that I know Tithonia better as a great pollinator and understand the precautions needed to decrease allelopathic effects, I will invite this beautiful flower back into my yard. Who knows? Maybe my wife and I will share 50 arrangements this year.

Hollyhocks

It's easy to fall in love with the cheerful hollyhocks sprawled all over my elderly neighbor’s junk filled backyard. He was happy to share seeds with me and told me he remembered them from the 1950’s when his parents bought the farm.  

There are 1500 species and 27 genera in North America and grow in zones 2-10. The edible flowers are considered a delicacy in Turkey. Hollyhocks (Alcea rosea) are in the mallow family.

Hollyhocks require:

• Full sun
• Moist, well-drained soil
• Should be watered with drip irrigation or soaker hose
• Grow up to 8 feet tall
• Biennials -- take two years from seed to bloom
• Plants reseed themselves
• Companion plants are pansies and campanulas

They attract hummingbirds and butterflies. In the Victorian era, hollyhocks were a symbol of ambition and initially were plants for the wealthy. They were used medicinally for respiratory ailments and for cooking.

My hollyhock plants looked ragged, with bumpy reddish growths on the lower leaves. The spots became dry, brown, and left holes in the lovely green leaves. Initially I treated them with a detergent based wash, then applied insecticide per the research from my plant books. The problem continued, and I noted that other gardens’ hollyhock leaves were equally as unattractive as mine. It seemed we would need to co-exist. I just picked off the offensive leaves.

Before Google was available for research I had to rely on books. In my master gardening class, I learned how to use the Google search site (site:.edu hollyhocks). Using this educational search, I was able to find out what was causing problems. To my amazement, the culprit was a fungus! The mystery was solved as I perused the pictures and found the Puccinia malvacearum fungus.

One of the most common problems with hollyhock is Rust (Puccinia malvacearum). Rust causes the plant to look ragged, with bumpy reddish growths on the lower leaves. The fungus overwinters in infected plant debris. In the spring new infectious spores are formed on infected plant debris that cause infection on the newly emerging leaves.

Disease Control Strategies: 

• Cut infected plants at the soil line and remove debris as soon as the hollyhocks are done flowering. This prevents the rust disease from overwintering and infecting in the upcoming spring. 
• In addition, remove and destroy any mallow weeds growing near hollyhocks.
• Adding a layer of mulch around hollyhocks in the spring will hinder overwintering of spores within in plant debris. 
• Scout hollyhocks in early spring. Remove and destroy the first leaves that appear infected. 
• Proper location choice can be important to reduce the chance of infection. An ideal site will have adequate sunlight, good soil drainage, and sufficient air circulation.
• It is also recommended to water the plants early in the day, so that they dry relatively quickly.
• Consider purchasing more resistant varieties such as the Alcea rugosa and Alcea ficifolia.
• A preventative fungicide can be applied to plants BEFORE infection or as soon as infection is detected. Frequent treatments will need to be applied as new growth emerges.

My initial plants are a very old variety, I have secluded a few and removed most of the plants. We have a large area, and I hope to avoid infecting any new plants. I have new plants from the seed swap at the Canyon County U of I Extension Office. According to Wisconsin Horticulture these are fungicide treatments and usage that will help your hollyhocks.  

“If you decide to use fungicides for control, select products that are labeled for use on hollyhocks (or more generally on ornamental flowering plants) and contain the active ingredients chlorothalonil, mancozeb, myclobutanil, tebuconazole, or triticonazole. When making more than one application, DO NOT use the same active ingredient for all treatments. Instead, alternate the use of at least two active ingredients with different modes of action to help minimize problems with fungicide-resistant variants of the hollyhock rust fungus. Myclobutanil, tebuconazole and triticonazole have similar modes of action and should NOT be alternated with one another. Be sure to read and follow all label instructions of the fungicides that you select to ensure that you use products in the safest and most effective manner possible.”

I will also be purchasing new seeds in my quest for lovely, cheerful hollyhocks!