Growing Borage, also Burrage, Bugloss

Borago officinalis : Boraginaceae / the borage family

Jan F M A M J J A S O N Dec
        P              

(Best months for growing Borage in USA - Zone 5a regions)

  • P = Sow seed
  • Easy to grow. Sow in garden. Sow seed at a depth approximately three times the diameter of the seed. Best planted at soil temperatures between 50°F and 77°F. (Show °C/cm)
  • Space plants: 8 inches apart
  • Harvest in 8-10 weeks. Use leaves before flowers appear, otherwise they will be 'hairy'. .
  • Compatible with (can grow beside): Strawberry, tomatoes, zucchini/squash. Deters pests from many plants.

Your comments and tips

02 Feb 20, Isabel (Australia - temperate climate)
Hi, I come from Spain, in the north basque area, though I live in Perth. I love borage! We eat it as a vegetable, we discard the leaves, clean the stems a bit and chopped in finger lenght size, we boil with potato. Once cooked we add either raw olive oil, after ridding of some of the boiling liquid, or we fry a bit of garlic and add it to the borage together with the oil. Yum!!
25 Mar 20, Jamie Graham (Australia - temperate climate)
Thanks Isabel. I have borage all around my garden, it is a beautiful plant and the bees love it but I have never quite known what to do with it. Now I do.
13 Aug 22, Tina Siale (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hi Jaime, my kids enjoy eating the flowers and we dig the excess plants into the soil as a green manure as borage comes from the same family as comfrey.
22 Mar 20, Nagore (Australia - temperate climate)
Hola Isabel, me llamo Nagore y me gustaría hacer una huerta así que vine a esta web en busca de información pero por lo visto solo tiene unas zonas climáticas especificas y yo vivo en Navarra en un pueblo cerca de Iruña,como por ahora solo estoy recogiendo información me gustaría saber si me podrías decir un poco como empezar o que plantar por estas fechas y así. Gracias Hi Isabel, my name is Nagore and I would like to make a vegetable garden so I came to this website in search of information but apparently it only has specific climatic zones and I live in Navarra in a town near Iruña, as for now I am only collecting information I would like to know if you could tell me a bit how to start or what to plant around this time and so on. Thank you
24 Mar 20, Chris (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hola Nagore, You could try the USA zones 9 or 10. 9a is Portland Oregon (Csb: Warm-summer Mediterranean), 10 is Los Angeles (Csa: Hot-summer Mediterranean). They should be fairly close to the Pamplona coastal mediterranean climate.
03 Feb 20, anonymous (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
In 1974-5 I holidayed near Santander and Mundaka for a month at each place, loved it. I grew borage last winter spring. Plants grew 1m high and 2m across. Attracted heaps of bees.
04 Dec 19, Janet (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)
What can I plant around borage so I won’t get in contact with the prickly plant? Chillies? Pepper? Lemon grass? Area is sunny but windy.
05 Dec 19, (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
I have grown borage the last two years, the plants have been huge, 1.2m high and 1.8-2.0m diameter. I suggest you grow them where you are not going to walk around much.
10 May 19, NC (New Zealand - temperate climate)
Want to grow borage through the winter in Hamilton. Successful do you think?
11 Aug 18, Barbie (New Zealand - cool/mountain climate)
We are in Taupo where we get a lot of frosts. Our borage plants are unaffected and just keep on flowering week in week out. In Auckland our borage plants died back in late summer.
Showing 11 - 20 of 51 comments

This grows into a huge shrub in my garden in Cape Town! I'd say spacing is more like 100 cm x 100 cm, not 20 cm apart

- Amanda

Please provide your email address if you are hoping for a reply


All comments are reviewed before displaying on the site, so your posting will not appear immediately

Gardenate App

Put Gardenate in your pocket. Get our app for iPhone, iPad or Android to add your own plants and record your plantings and harvests

Planting Reminders

Join 60,000+ gardeners who already use Gardenate and subscribe to the free Gardenate planting reminders email newsletter.


Home | Vegetables and herbs to plant | Climate zones | About Gardenate | Contact us | Privacy Policy

This planting guide is a general reference intended for home gardeners. We recommend that you take into account your local conditions in making planting decisions. Gardenate is not a farming or commercial advisory service. For specific advice, please contact your local plant suppliers, gardening groups, or agricultural department. The information on this site is presented in good faith, but we take no responsibility as to the accuracy of the information provided.
We cannot help if you are overrun by giant slugs.