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

Variegated means having leaves or other plant parts with streaks, blotches or patches of different colours. Typically, these would be a combination of two colours, such as green and gold or green and white.

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
  

  A seedling is a young plant grown from seed.

  that germinate later in summer usually flower but will also be shorter than those that germinate in spring
• Hardy perennial
  

  Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.

  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.

Buying: garden centre plants

Buying: mail order plants

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

Describes soil or potting compost that is saturated with water. The water displaces air from the spaces between soil particles and plant roots can literally drown, unless they are adapted to growing in waterlogged conditions. Waterlogging is common on poorly drained soil or when heavy soil is compacted.

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

In the ground

Young borage plants are easy to plant in the garden, as you simply need to dig a hole large enough to take the roots, firm back the surround soil and water. The soil doesn't have to be improved with organic matter but, if you do, it will certainly help your plants to grow bigger. Plants should be spaced about 50cm (20in) apart.

To sow the seeds in spring, see Propagation below.

In containers

Pot up borage using a multi-purpose peat-free compost

Can refer to either home-made garden compost or seed/potting compost:

• Garden compost is a soil improver made from decomposed plant waste, usually in a compost bin or heap. It is added to soil to improve its fertility, structure and water-holding capacity. Seed or potting composts are used for growing seedlings or plants in containers - a wide range of commercially produced peat-free composts are available, made from a mix of various ingredients, such as loam, composted bark, coir and sand, although you can mix your own.

. 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.

Perennials: planting

Watering

In the ground

Generally borages in the ground will not need watering, but they do prefer the soil to be moist, and watering in dry spells will encourage the plants to grow to a large size.

In containers

Borages in containers will need the compost

Can refer to either home-made garden compost or seed/potting compost:

• Garden compost is a soil improver made from decomposed plant waste, usually in a compost bin or heap. It is added to soil to improve its fertility, structure and water-holding capacity. Seed or potting composts are used for growing seedlings or plants in containers - a wide range of commercially produced peat-free composts are available, made from a mix of various ingredients, such as loam, composted bark, coir and sand, although you can mix your own.

to be kept moist, which can sometimes mean watering every day in summer.

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

To grow well, plants need a wide range of nutrients in various amounts, depending on the individual plant and its stage of growth. The three key nutrients usually taken up from the soil are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Plants also need carbon, oxygen and hydrogen to make carbohydrates — their main energy source. Carbon and oxygen come from the air as carbon dioxide, while hydrogen is drawn from water absorbed by the roots. Other important soil nutrients include magnesium, calcium and sulphur. Most garden soils contain enough of these nutrients to support healthy plant growth.

in the compost soon run out (usually after about six weeks).

Fertilisers

Container maintenance

Caring for old plants

Dig or pull up plants after flowering, or when they start to look a bit tatty. You can collect seed to sow the following spring in pots or scatter on open ground.

Spring sown/planted borage will often being to look the worst for wear by August, so it's worth knowing they don't last all summer long. If you put these up, it's common for seedlings

A seedling is a young plant grown from seed.

to quickly grow and take over the space, giving you flower again from September. To ensure this happens, keep the seedlings watered to encourage good growth.

No pruning is required is required for the borage. Plants generally don't need staking, but sometimes they can flop over and so will occasionally need a support to prevent a plant squashing it's neighbours in the border.

Tidy away the remains of perennial

Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.

B. pygmaea by cutting down in autumn. It will resprout in spring.

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.

See our sowing hardy annuals

Annuals are plants that complete their life cycle in one growing season. They are generally easy to grow from seed or can be bought as young plants from garden centres. Annuals are ideal for growing in summer containers and filling gaps in borders. Some examples of annuals include sunflowers, cosmos, sweet peas and zinnia.

guides below, for full step-by-step details, but here are a few extra on seed collecting and growing tips:

• 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.

It is usually possible to successfully divide perennial

Perennials are plants that live for multiple years. They come in all shapes and sizes and fill our gardens with colourful flowers and ornamental foliage. Many are hardy and can survive outdoors all year round, while less hardy types need protection over winter. The term herbaceous perennial is used to describe long-lived plants without a permanent woody structure (they die back to ground level each autumn), distinguishing them from trees, shrubs and sub-shrubs.

borage, Borago pygmaea, once it reaches a good plant size, perferably in early spring.

How to sow hardy annuals in spring

Borages rarely suffer from pests, but there is a disease that affect the appearance of the flowers and overall health of the plant:

• 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
  

  Can refer to either home-made garden compost or seed/potting compost:

  
  • Garden compost is a soil improver made from decomposed plant waste, usually in a compost bin or heap. It is added to soil to improve its fertility, structure and water-holding capacity. Seed or potting composts are used for growing seedlings or plants in containers - a wide range of commercially produced peat-free composts are available, made from a mix of various ingredients, such as loam, composted bark, coir and sand, although you can mix your own.

If you're a member of the RHS, you can use our online Gardening Advice Service, via MyRHS, for any gardening queries and problems.