Growing Borage: A Complete Profile
By Growing Home Greens Team · July 25, 2026
Borage is a fuzzy-leaved annual herb best known for its star-shaped blue flowers and mild, cucumber-like flavor. Both the young leaves and flowers are edible, and few plants pull in bees as reliably.
Sowing it
Direct-sow seed 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep once the soil has warmed in spring. Borage develops a taproot early and doesn’t transplant well, so starting it indoors is working against the plant rather than with it. Expect flowering and harvestable growth around 50-60 days from sowing.
The straight species is what most seed racks sell, and it’s what the blue-flowered plant most people picture. If you’re growing in a container rather than a garden bed, ‘Bianca’ is worth seeking out instead: it stays more compact and stands up better without staking.
It self-seeds enthusiastically once established
Borage is easy, but it self-seeds enthusiastically once established. If you don’t want volunteers coming up everywhere next year, deadhead before seed pods form or plan on thinning seedlings the following spring.
A pollinator draw, and folklore for the rest
Borage’s flowers are one of the more reliable pollinator draws you can add to a vegetable garden border, and it’s a traditional companion for tomatoes and squash, reputed to improve growth and deter some pests nearby, though, as with most companion-planting claims, treat that as folklore rather than guarantee.
Sources: Borage, Johnny’s Selected Seeds; Borage, Illinois Extension.
Companion planting guide for Borage · Find your planting dates
Typically viable in USDA zones 2-10. Not sure your zone? Look it up by ZIP code.
Mature height: 1.5-3 ft
Method: Direct sow: Direct-sow outside. It doesn't transplant well, or doesn't need the extra time indoors.
When to plant borage, by zone
Every zone borage grows in. Pick your zone in the header and it will be highlighted here. Each zone links to its full page.
| Zone | Start indoors | Sow or plant out | Harvest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2a & 2b | Not usually | May 20–May 27 | Jul 14–Jul 21 |
| 3a & 3b | Not usually | May 30–Jun 6 | Jul 24–Jul 31 |
| 4a & 4b | Not usually | May 15–May 22 | Jul 9–Jul 16 |
| 5a & 5b | Not usually | May 10–May 17 | Jul 4–Jul 11 |
| 6a & 6b | Not usually | Apr 25–May 2 | Jun 19–Jun 26 |
| 7a & 7b | Not usually | Apr 10–Apr 17 | Jun 4–Jun 11 |
| 8a & 8b | Not usually | Mar 25–Apr 1 | May 19–May 26 |
| 9a & 9b | Not usually | Feb 15–Feb 22 | Apr 11–Apr 18 |
| 10a & 10b | Not usually | Jan 30–Feb 6 | Mar 26–Apr 2 |
Harvest dates are about 55 days after the sow or plant-out date.
Zone 2 sows before zone 3 here, which looks wrong and is not. USDA zones rank winter cold, not season length, and zone 2 is mostly interior Alaska, where hard winters come with warm summers. More on what a zone measures.
See exact start-indoors, direct-sow, and harvest dates for your zone →
How many Borage plants fit per square foot?
Spacing: 1 per square foot (square-foot-gardening spacing). Mature height: 1.5-3 ft.
Varieties worth considering
- 'Bianca' (white borage): Standard borage sprawls and gets leggy, which is fine in a border but awkward in a pot. Illinois Extension describes 'Bianca' as a compact, sturdier form with white flowers that's better suited to container growing, useful if you want borage on a patio instead of staked in a bed. (source)
Why each variety is listed comes from the source shown next to it. We haven't grown these ourselves yet, so treat this as a research-backed starting point, not a personal endorsement. The buy links are separate from those sources: they go to seed suppliers that sell that exact variety, and we may earn a commission on some of them.
Where to buy borage seeds
Botanical Interests · True Leaf Market · Burpee (each supplier's borage seeds)
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See it growing
Search YouTube for "growing borage" videos → (a live search, not a hand-picked video; results vary and aren't vetted by us)
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Growing Borage: A cucumber-flavored, self-seeding pollinator magnet that resents transplanting and rewards being left alone.
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