Both leaves and flowers are edible! For a unique garnish for teas and lemonades, look no further than borage! An easy-to-grow annual with bright blue, edible flowers (they can be candied!) and leaves that have a cucumber-like flavor, borage is considered an herb, but is often grown in vegetable gardens, where its star-shaped blooms attract pollinating bees. Borage is considered a good companion to squash, tomatoes, and strawberries, deterring tomato hornworms and improving the flavor of tomatoes growing nearby. And borage self-sows, so you'll have more next year! Edible, Honey Bee, Old Fashioned Tall heirloom annual A tasty culinary herb, popular in European cuisines Produces attractive, edible flowers Borage is an annual that is native to Europe and the Middle East. Plants are large and sprawling, and the leaves are covered with bristly hairs. The blue, star-shaped flowers hang downward and are edible. Fresh flowers can be used as a garnish or tossed into salads. Candied flowers are beautiful decorations for cakes and other desserts. Young borage leaves can be cooked like spinach and taste like cucumber. Borage is also known as bee’s bread because honey bees love the nectar. A Bit More About Borage Borage, Borago officinalis, is an annual herb in the forget-me-not, or Boraginaceae family that has naturalized across most of the United States. Native to the Mediterranean region, it has made a name for itself far and wide as a tasty herb with edible flowers that pollinators love. The flowers and leaves are used in a variety of herbal remedies, and the oil extracted from the seeds is high in gamma linolenic acid, which may help to reduce inflammation and alleviate symptoms of asthma. Borage grows just about anywhere, and that’s only a slight exaggeration. It thrives in full sun to part shade locations, in containers, or spreading out in a meadow. It’s suitable for gardeners in USDA Hardiness Zones 2-11 and isn’t too demanding when it comes to moisture or soil – which is why it pops up in sandy and clay soil alike. So long as it doesn’t have wet feet, borage will be happy to do its thing. The plant features beautiful, bright blue flowers that have a distinct star shape. The stems are covered in fuzz and have a deep red color when they’re young. Plants grow to a mature height of about two feet.