It is a mop-head type hydrangea with the unique ability to bloom consistently on both old and new wood. The result is a plant that provides beautiful flowers all summer long. The flowers grow up to 8" in diameter, with pink blooms in alkaline soils and blue blooms in acidic soil.

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BORAGE

If you love cucumber, but your tummy doesn’t, try the companion herb that has a cucumber flavor: Borage.

Growing:

This sun loving annual or biennial (depending upon the climate) grows so vigorously that, at maturity, it may need staking. Its star shaped blue flowers are sometimes candied and bees love borage. I like to harvest borage leaves fairly quickly, even before flowering, when the leaves are young and tender. Make successive plantings to carry you through fall.

Health benefits:

Borage contains vitamins A, C, iron and copper. It is anti-inflammatory, as well.

Cooking:

I add tender, new borage leaves to salads and drinks. The leaves, as they mature, are sometimes too bristly and coarse to eat raw, but they can be cooked. Try including borage with fish, such as salmon.

The flowers, as mentioned above, can be candied or sprinkled on salads or added to herbal vinegars.

Tips from Rita’s garden:

Natorp’s carries beautiful borage plants, along with a “sister” herb, salad burnet, which is another cucumber flavored herb.