You’ll catch the buzz with borage
I have a friend who chooses to grow plants for bees. He says he gets the best of both worlds – fragrant flowering plants and masses of bees that make his garden a hive of activity.
Puns apart, he is doing a great deal of good while enjoying the sights, sounds and scents associated with the English garden.
His garden abounds with lavender, cosmos, buddleia, hollyhocks and – one of his favourites – borage.
Borage is one of those herbs that seem to have gone out of fashion since it was introduced, centuries ago, from the Mediterranean.
In its original home it had a reputation for inspiring bravery. It was also said to help heal broken hearts and scientists have discovered it helps the body to release adrenaline.
It’s also claimed planting borage with strawberries will attract bees and thus increase the yield of the fruit.
Nowadays it has limited culinary use but the flowers can be used as a garnish, in potpourris or candied for use in confections. Some people use the cucumber-flavoured leaves to pep up a pasta sauce.
So perhaps we should grow more of it to bring fresh flavour into our lives and more bees and other insects into our gardens.
Borago officinalis also self-seeds at an alarming rate – probably another reason why, in these days of smaller gardens, it has found itself out of favour.
But kept contained, it can enhance beds and borders in June and July with brilliant blue flowers that prove irresistible to bees and butterflies.
It pays to allocate a specific spot – a well-drained, neutral soil in a semi-shaded site should be the perfect berth.
Sow seeds directly into the garden after the last frost, planting them just under the surface in rows 12 inches apart. Thin seedlings when they get to six inches tall, leaving at least a foot between them.