There’s nothing more like a love letter from the planet than self-seeding pop-up borage. It’s hard to say what it is that makes them the delight that they are -is it that they are edible? That they can be frozen in an ice cube to create joy in a cold drink? The vivid blue color or the way the pollinators love them? Or is it just that they appear where they want to, when they want to?
These turned up in my potato bed, and is still blooming in mid-October.
Borago officinalis is native to the mediterranean, but it self-seeds happily here in New England. Sometimes called bee bread or star flower, the blue of these flowers is vivid and cannot fail to capture the eye’s attention. Pliny the Elder called Borage a euphorosinum —a plant that elicits a feeling of euphoria. Consumed for centuries, the blue can be used as a dye and of course this lovely flower attracts bees to your garden.
Kat Maier notes that borage is a salty, mineral dense, oily herb, popular as a remedy for inflammation brought on by dry states.
For me, a perfect blue star flower suspended in my ice cube gives me joy. That’s enough for me.
