When I select plants for the potager, I select on two criteria; form and function.  In my row garden, plants are always selected for function.    I grow food in those beds and I plant what I like to eat.  If I can make it look attractive, that is a bonus but it is not what I select for.  When I plant a bed or border around the house I select solely on form because I am designing something that looks good.  The potager is where my two styles come together.  I want the potager to be beautiful but I also want it to produce food.  So, a lot more thought goes into the plants for the potager.

Young borage in my potager. I planted this at the end of March and this picture was taken on May 25

One of the annuals that almost always makes its way into the spring potager is borage.  Borage is a large scale, leafy herb that produces beautiful little star shaped, corn blue flowers.  The leaves have a mild cucumber taste and can be used in salads and drinks.  As the plant matures, those cumber tasting leaves become “fuzzy”.  A lot of folks, me included, do not like the texture of the leaves when they get to this point.  However, since I don’t grow it primarily for food, I don’t really care about the stiff fuzz on the leaves.  I grow it in the potager because it makes a very lovely three foot tall cone shaped bush.  Plus I love the tiny flowers.

I love the fuzzy white flower buds

Borage is a great choice for containers, the garden and the flower bed.  It is fairly drought tolerant.  Botanists believe it originated in Syria so it is perfectly designed to take high heat and low water.  It is also fairly pest and disease resistant.  Like most herbs it prefers a loose, well draining soil.  I plant from seed in March in full sun and give it about an inch of water every five days or so.  This treatment makes it thrive.  There are some bugs that nibble on the leaves, but what plant doesn’t have a few leaf munching predators?  Borage is also a great companion plant for tomatoes, squash and strawberries.  Some say that it is actually a deterrent to hornworms.

The blue, star shaped flowers are lovely

As I mentioned earlier, the flowers are really why I grow this plant.  I love those little blue stars (the fuzzy white buds are almost as cute)!  These pretty blue flowers are edible and they also have the mild cucumber flavor of the leaves.  Add them directly to your summer salads for a quick way to liven it up.  You can also freeze the flowers in ice cubes and add those flower filled cubes to your summer drinks.