Borage

**sanderson** 5/14/2015, 9:40 pm

A real, live, flowering borage! Borage Borage10

talentetta 5/14/2015, 10:00 pm

That's a trap crop, right?

**sanderson** 5/15/2015, 2:00 am

I haven't heard anything about it attracting unwanted pests. It is good for attracting bees and other pollinators. I read one thread about squash insects, but only one. Plus, we don't have any of those squash bugs in this area.

**camprn** 5/15/2015, 6:47 am

I've never know borage to be a trap plant but it does attract pollinating insects. Congrats Sanderson!!!

zackshea 5/15/2015, 8:38 am

I love those! You can eat the flowers or put them in your cold drinks for a mild cucumber flavor.

**AtlantaMarie** 5/15/2015, 9:02 am

Wow! Didn't realize they got THAT big... Shocked

mollyhespra 5/15/2015, 10:28 am

Actually, they can get HUGE. I mean huge as in take-over-your-whole-box HUGE.

That being said, I like having one or two in my garden in an unused corner (they're prickly so I've found it best to have them where I'm not going to be brushing up against them.

They will readily re-seed and pop up in weird places. I have a volunteer seedling right now in a box that is 2 boxes away from where it's momma grew two summers ago. I'm going to need to move it or just pull it because I can't have it growing where it is right now, it will take over.

Sanderson, you might want to keep yours pruned back if you want it to play nice with its neighbors. Before I realized what I was dealing with, I tried using a small tomato cage to help keep it from flopping over, but it still overran the cage. I then mercilessly cut it back, but it didn't seem to mind. Now, it's children just go live in a corner and we're both happy.

Other huge plants: http://www.motherearthliving.com/in-the-garden/growing-big-herbs-angelica-borage-and-tansy.aspx

zackshea 5/15/2015, 11:03 am

I took this last Spring. The spider stayed for a few weeks! My borage got huge, but I trimmed it back continuously. It reseeded itself all over the place, I have been picking borage seedlings every day this year!

Borage Borage10

plantoid 5/15/2015, 3:12 pm

Borage is one of the few plants that produce a high quality nectar like substance from the stalk for a few days till the cut heals if you cut it down to four inches tall .
So if you cut a big borage down because the bees are making life difficult or you want the seeds for the star flower oil etc . beware of the long lasting nectar production .

Because of my knowing this 20 or so years ago I got two hives full of borage honey after I put the hives 100 mtrs apart in the middle of a fresh cut field . It makes a smashing honey as well .

**sanderson** 5/15/2015, 3:13 pm

Zack, You inspired me to take a closer photo. Rain drops on them!
Borage Borage13

plantoid 5/15/2015, 3:22 pm

The bees will go crazy for that in a while , if that was taken earlier on in the day .
For the rain drops and flower colour indicates a good humidity which means a nectar flow is on the way .

**sanderson** 5/15/2015, 3:45 pm

plantoid wrote:The bees will go crazy for that in a while , if that was taken earlier on in the day .
For the rain drops and flower colour indicates a good humidity which means a nectar flow is on the way .

Yeah! Thanks for pointing this out to me. The coriander cilantro is close to ending their blooming, so now the pollinators will have something else. Always something to learn on this Forum.

dstack 5/26/2015, 3:15 pm

I've been trying to some borage started for the past couple of months, and they've all either died or just not growing. I'm starting to wonder if it's too hot and/or humid here this time of year in South Florida. The ones that seem to be holding on (barely) are in the shade. If those die too I'll stop any further attempts until September or October. Does that sound about right?

**donnainzone5** 5/26/2015, 10:06 pm

And here I keep pulling/turning under hundreds--if not thousands--of borage seedlings! All from last year's sole plant.

I'd like to keep only one or two....

Wonder what they're worth on the free market?

yolos 5/26/2015, 10:13 pm

My borage became so unruly that I clipped a lot of the plants back to nubbins. I got 10 gallons of green leaves for my compost bin from just 6 borage plants. I still have about 8 more plants that are taking over various spots in my garden.

dstack - my borage really droops in the heat no matter how much I water it but it comes back after it cools off in the evening.

**donnainzone5** 5/26/2015, 10:29 pm

Compost: yes! So I'll let the borage grow a bit more.

Meanwhile, I've been digging clumps of clover for the same purpose. (The ones that grow in the flower beds, etc.)

FamilyGardening 5/27/2015, 7:43 am

we LOVE Borage and so does the bee's and after its finished flowering or we trim it back in the gardens the chickens love to eat it too!

Some Borage from 2013.....it grew well over 6 feet tall!

Borage Dscf0010

Happy gardening
rose

**AtlantaMarie** 5/27/2015, 9:35 am

SIX FEET???? Holy Toledo.... Okay, thanks, Rose. I know now I'll need to plant it in the back. Maybe in that corner that's so hard to deal with....

CapeCoddess 5/27/2015, 12:53 pm

uh oh...

...I gotta move mine, too....again. How wide is it?

FamilyGardening 5/28/2015, 2:20 am

CapeCoddess wrote:uh oh... ...I gotta move mine, too....again. How wide is it?

The Borage in those pictures spread about 2-3 feet wide....it was massive....it LOVED the mushroom compost it was growing in Smile

BUT....we have had other Borage only be a single stem and grow about 1-2 feet tall....seems like the more you feed it....or the better the compost is the larger it will grow Smile

here is some in 2014 that were single stem and about 4 feet Tall

Borage Dscf1037

happy gardening
rose

**sanderson** 12/21/2016, 4:29 am

Maybe 200 Borage babies in the front flower bed. For those who can't enlarge the photo, there are some pruned branches in the background and a handful of juvenile Borage in the forefront. This is a BTE flower bed so the volunteers will be easy to thin. Borage Borage10

**camprn** 12/24/2016, 1:45 pm

Lucky you Sanderson! you can pot up some of those babies to sell!

**sanderson** 12/24/2016, 2:20 pm

I couldn't give them away in my neighborhood for 2 reasons. One, everyone else has gardeners and pest control. What bees would visit the borages would get zapped. Two, the very few that successfully have flowers plant the standard flowers for neighborhoods: snapdragons, zinnias, petunias and pansies.

Given that, I think I will put a few in my color spot out by the sidewalk. And sprinkle some poppy and zinnia seeds. The volunteer and perennial flowers seem to survive the summers the best out there.

**sanderson** 1/27/2017, 3:55 am

January 20, blooming volunteer. Borage Borage11

**Scorpio Rising** 1/27/2017, 6:12 pm

Pretty!

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