Borage, or Starflower, is definitely a plant you should consider adding to your garden, not only does it give months of colour but it’s also edible, adored by bees, produces wonderful edible seeds and when left alone will self seed throughout the garden – so great for covering banks and other out-of-the-way areas in the garden.
In addition to all the above Starflower is also a most unusual colour of blue, and this startling blue is not a colour you see too often in the garden.
This year I’ve sown my first batch of Borage (250 seeds for €2.50 – so great value!), these are now 3 weeks old so in another week or so I’ll pot these up into some larger pots for growing on, and then ultimately plant these out around the hedgerows, gardens and wherever I can fit some in!
From seed Starflowers grow easily and quickly, so if you get some this weekend you’ll be able to sow them straight away and will have nice usable plants in around 8 weeks.
As mentioned before Borage is adored by bees, so when you have some of these added to your garden you’ll be providing some great quality feeding for our flying friends, with the plant producing fresh flowers for many months…. even if you nibble and eat away at them too. You see the flowers are delish, ideal for adding to ice cubes for a nice effect or for using as cake decorations – and the foliage is edible too.
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So in addition to Starflowers being great for bees, edible, maintenance free they also adore our wet climate – the plants like to grow in damp soil in full sun, so our summers generally offer them a constant supply of damp soils…unfortunately!
P.S.
There’s not long until the Spring Gardening event kicks off in Rathmullan House, join me for 2 days of gardening workshops in the wonderful walled garden this coming Thursday and Friday. Full details RathmullanHouse.com.
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