What it is
Borage (Borago officinalis) is in the Boraginaceae (Borage) family. A pollinator magnet with cucumber-flavored leaves and brilliant blue star flowers — plant it once and it reseeds itself forever.
How to grow it
It wants full sun, water it low to moderate, and give it average, well-drained soil. Target a soil pH around 6.0–7.5. Space plants about 18 in apart. Expect roughly Edible flowers in 8 weeks. Annual; self-sows.
How it's used
Borage is used: young leaves, flowers.
🔎 How to identify it
- Bristly gray-green leaves
- Five-pointed blue star flowers
- Whole plant smells of cucumber
Edibility
How to grow & propagate borage
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate borage
Borage self-sows so freely from seed you'll have it forever after one planting. Comfrey is the opposite — it almost never sets viable seed and instead spreads from root cuttings. A two-inch piece of comfrey root will grow a whole new plant, which is why it's nearly impossible to remove once established.
Growing borage in Texas
Give it full sun and average, well-drained soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
Time your planting to our long warm season and watch the frost dates at both ends; the live weather tool on this site is built for exactly that.
Once it's rooted in, this is a low-water plant — overwatering does more harm than drought here. Water deeply to establish, then back off and let it prove how tough it is.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly edible flowers in 8 weeks before you're harvesting. Pick herbs in the morning after the dew dries for the strongest oils, and harvest little and often — regular cutting keeps a herb bushy and stops it bolting. The part you're after: young leaves, flowers.
Making more for free
Every seed we sell is open-pollinated, which means you can save your own from the best plants and it'll grow true next year. Let a few of your strongest plants finish and go to seed, dry it fully, and store it cool and dark. That's the whole point of heirlooms — buy once, grow forever.
Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.