Backyard Nature Wednesday: Borage

Borage is an ancient herb that is native to the Middle East. Long ago, it was used as an enhancement for bravery and courage. It is an annual which grows quickly. It can get up to a foot or more wide and up to two feet tall with broad, hairy leaves. All parts of the plant are cucumber-flavored and, except for the roots, all have culinary or medicinal uses. It is a free-flowering plant that will reseed itself and may reappear in the garden from year to year. 

This plant is full of buds and is just about to burst into bloom.

Maybe you can't really tell from this picture but when the blooms open, they are shaped like a five-pointed star which gives the plant one of its common names, starflower.

Borage is a very easy plant to grow and is useful for the butterfly garden. It's very attractive to pollinators of many kinds. Borage is sometimes planted with strawberries in order to attract bees and increase the yield of fruit.

Traditionally, borage was used to treat many ailments, including such things as kidney problems. Today, it has only limited medicinal uses, but the seeds are a source of linolenic acid, a substance which is an essential part of a healthy human diet.

This old-fashioned plant also has few uses as a culinary herb these days, but the cucumber-flavored leaves can be used in teas or other beverages, and the pretty little flowers are sometimes used in decorating salads or they can be candied and used in confections. The flowers are also a staple of potpourris. Bees which feed on the flowers produce some very tasty honey.

If you want to get into growing herbs and want something that is not at all fussy and is pretty as well, you might want to give borage a try.






Comments

  1. AnonymousMay 25, 2016 at 3:20 PM

    Appreciate you sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AlanaMay 25, 2016 at 6:29 PM

    It is pretty; I used to grow it years ago when I had 34 acres of land. Now, just a small plot, and it does get big. But I miss those lovely blue flowers. And a fellow blogger sent me some seed. I have no excuse.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersMay 25, 2016 at 6:44 PM

      It does take a bit of room, but I bet you could tuck it in somewhere, Alana. It is well worth it.

      Delete
  3. CarmenMay 26, 2016 at 7:39 AM

    I like its flower.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dorothy BordersMay 26, 2016 at 10:05 AM

      Isn't it pretty? I think it is grown now mostly as an ornamental rather than for its medicinal or culinary properties.

      Delete
  4. Judy KruegerJune 1, 2016 at 3:22 PM

    I am going to try it!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Poetry Sunday: Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver

How about we share another Mary Oliver poem? After all, you can never have too many of those. In this one, the poet seems to acknowledge that it is often hard to simply live in and enjoy the moment, perhaps because we are afraid it can't last. She urges us to give in to that moment and fully experience the joy. Although "much can never be redeemed, still, life has some possibility left." Don't Hesitate by Mary Oliver If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy, don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this is its way of fighting back, that sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world. It could be anything, but very likely you notice it in the instant when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid of its plenty. Joy is no...
Read more

Poetry Sunday: Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman

You probably remember poet Amanda Gorman from her appearance at the inauguration of President Biden. She read her poem "The Hill We Climb" on that occasion. After the senseless slaughter in Uvalde this week, she was inspired to write another poem which was published in The New York Times. It seemed perfect for the occasion and so I stole it in order to feature it here, just in case you didn't get a chance to read it in the Times . Hymn for the Hurting by Amanda Gorman Everything hurts, Our hearts shadowed and strange, Minds made muddied and mute. We carry tragedy, terrifying and true. And yet none of it is new; We knew it as home, As horror, As heritage. Even our children Cannot be children, Cannot be. Everything hurts. It’s a hard time to be alive, And even harder to stay that way. We’re burdened to live out these days, While at the same time, blessed to outlive them. This alarm is how we know We must be altered — That we must differ or die, That we must triumph or try. ...
Read more

Poetry Sunday: Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney

My mother was a farm wife and a prodigious canner. She canned fruit and vegetables from the garden, even occasionally meat. But the best thing that she canned, in my opinion, was blackberry jam. Even as I type those words my mouth waters!  Of course, before she could make that jam, somebody had to pick the blackberries. And that somebody was quite often named Dorothy. I think Seamus Heaney might have spent some time among the briars plucking those delicious black fruits as well, so he would have known that "Once off the bush the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour." They don't keep; you have to get that jam made in a hurry! Blackberry-Picking by Seamus Heaney Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. At first, just one, a glossy purple clot Among others, red, green, hard as a knot. You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet Like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it Leaving stains upon the tongue and lust ...
Read more