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 7a 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 10°C and 25°C. (Show °F/in)
  • Space plants: 20 cm 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

08 Jun 20, Chris (Australia - sub-tropical climate)
Hi Mateo, Borage is pretty tough and will grow easily in a container.
23 Apr 20, Susan (New Zealand - temperate climate)
Please note that bugloss is an echium. Think Vipers Bugloss (Echium vulgare), common in Otago and also makes great honey; and Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans). The Boraginaceae was split into eleven distinct families in 2016, of about 2000 trees shrubs and herbs including comfrey and forget-me-not - see the wikipedia entry for more information.
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.
Showing 11 - 20 of 53 comments

I have just started my kitchen garden. The only place I could have it is in the front yard.I removed all the rocks and black matting, its all been dug over with compost added. It took four weekends to do. I have planted quite a few strawberries( about 30 plants), in one whole section. The borage sounds like a good idea. What can I use this for other than to be kind to my strawberries and encourage then to reward me with lots of fruit. In my other side of my garden I have parsley, sage, garlic chives, chives, capsicum (3 from last year that I planted in a pot too late) and 2 tomato plants, (one that I planted too late last year and it was also in a pot) and three baby asparagus plants, ( I have taken on board the three year wait, I was told that by a customer when I purchased my asparagus). I have also planted many, many petunas on either side of my two new garden beds, until such time as I know what to plant. I don't really want to waste the water on just flowers. Any suggestions, I live in South Australia in the Western suburbs. And I'm a newbee at this. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

- Sophie Molnar

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