Borage

Borage is a plant that gives more than it takes, but it operates on its own terms. The bright blue star-shaped flowers attract bees and other pollinators in waves, the young leaves taste faintly of cucumber, and the blossoms can be frozen in ice cubes or tossed into salads. The trade-off is that borage seeds itself with abandon, and once you plant it, you may find seedlings appearing in unexpected corners of the garden for years afterward.

The most important thing to know about borage is that it hates being transplanted. The taproot forms early and resents disturbance — seedlings moved from pots tend to sulk, grow slowly, or die outright. Direct-sow where you want the plant to live, about two weeks before your last frost date. The seeds are large enough to handle individually, and they germinate reliably in cool soil. Press them in about half an inch deep and leave them alone.

Soil that is too rich tends to produce lush foliage at the expense of flowers. Borage evolved in the rocky, lean soils of the Mediterranean, and it performs best in average or even poor ground. If your garden soil is heavily composted, consider sowing borage in a less-amended corner or letting it colonize a patch of dry ground where other plants struggle. It will often outperform the same variety planted in rich loam.

The plant grows fast once it's established — three to four feet tall in many cases, with hollow, bristly stems that tend to flop if not given room. Spacing seedlings about a foot apart allows enough airflow to prevent powdery mildew, which can appear on the lower leaves in damp or crowded conditions. The mildew rarely kills the plant, but it does make the foliage less appealing for harvest.

Borage flowers continuously from early summer until frost, and each flower produces four seeds. Those seeds drop, germinate, and establish new plants with no help from the gardener. By the second year you may have dozens of volunteers. Pull the ones you don't want while they're small — the taproot is shallow at that stage — or let them fill in around taller crops. Many gardeners plant borage once and manage the population from then on rather than sowing new seed.

The flowers are the real harvest. They can be eaten fresh, candied, or frozen whole in ice for drinks. The young leaves are edible but turn coarse and prickly as the plant matures. If you're growing borage primarily for the bees, let it flower freely and don't worry about deadheading — the constant bloom is what keeps pollinators coming back.