Borage

Scientific Name: Borago officinalis

Other Names: Starflower

Family: Boraginaceae

Lifespan: Hardy annual

Height: 12in-2ft

Growing:

History:

Cosmetic Uses:

Culinary Uses: As a fresh vegetable, borage, with a cucumber like taste, is often used in salads or as a garnish. The flower has a sweet honey-like taste and as one of the few truly blue-colored edible things, is often used to decorate dessert.

Decorative Uses: Use flowers in summer arrangements. 

Household Uses: Planted borage near tomato plants it is said not only to improve their growth but also to make them taste better and to repel the tomato hornworm, also near strawberries to stimulate each others growth.

Medicinal Uses: Use borage for regulation of metabolism and the hormonal system, and consider it to be a good remedy for PMS and menopause symptoms. Borage is sometimes indicated to alleviate and heal colds, bronchitis, and respiratory infections, and in general for its anti-inflammatory and balsamic properties. The flowers can be prepared in infusion to take advantage of its medicinal properties. Rich in mineral salts, borage can be used as a salt supplement.

Harvesting: