Borage 'Blue and White Mix' Seeds

Borage is about the easiest edible flower you can sow, and this mix gives you the classic sky-blue stars alongside a white-flowered form. Borago officinalis makes a bushy, bristly plant with nodding clusters of five-pointed flowers and young leaves that taste faintly of cucumber. Float the flowers in a jug of Pimm's or lemonade, freeze them in ice cubes or scatter them over salads and cakes. Bees work the flowers all day, which makes borage a good neighbour for tomatoes, strawberries and cucumbers.

Sowing and growing

• Sow outdoors where it is to flower from April to June, or start in pots under cover in March.
• Sow 2 to 3 cm deep and thin seedlings to about 25 cm apart.
• Germination takes 7 to 15 days.
• Full sun or light shade, in well-drained soil. Skip the fertiliser: rich soil gives leaves at the expense of flowers.
• Grows to about 60 cm tall and 30 cm wide, and fits a 30 cm pot.
• Flowers June to September. Pick flowers just as they open, in the cool of the morning, and deadhead to keep them coming.
• Hardy annual that self-seeds freely, so one sowing often returns year after year.

What you receive: a packet of about 50 seeds from Piccolo Seeds, with growing instructions on the back.

Browse our full range of flower, herb and vegetable seeds, or pair borage with more plants for pollinators and summer-flowering plants.