🌿 When to Plant Borage
Self-seeds prolifically; star-shaped blue flowers edible; excellent bee attractor
📅 Planting Calendar by USDA Zone
Borage is a cool-season crop — plant it around your last spring frost, and you can often start it earlier indoors or sow again for a fall harvest. Find the exact start-indoors, transplant, and direct-sow dates for your USDA zone in the table below.
Select your zone to highlight your dates. All dates are calculated from each zone's average frost dates — see how we calculate them.
| Zone | Last Frost | Start Indoors | Transplant | Direct Sow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 2A | May 30 | — | — | May 16 |
| Zone 3B | May 15 | — | — | May 1 |
| Zone 4A | May 8 | — | — | Apr 24 |
| Zone 4B | May 1 | — | — | Apr 17 |
| Zone 5A | Apr 25 | — | — | Apr 11 |
| Zone 5B | Apr 18 | — | — | Apr 4 |
| Zone 6A | Apr 21 | — | — | Apr 7 |
| Zone 6B | Apr 10 | — | — | Mar 27 |
| Zone 7A | Apr 5 | — | — | Mar 22 |
| Zone 7B | Mar 28 | — | — | Mar 14 |
| Zone 8A | Mar 20 | — | — | Mar 6 |
| Zone 8B | Mar 12 | — | — | Feb 26 |
| Zone 9A | Feb 28 | — | — | Feb 14 |
| Zone 9B | Feb 15 | — | — | Feb 1 |
| Zone 10A | Feb 1 | — | — | Jan 18 |
| Zone 10B | Jan 15 | — | — | Jan 1 |
| Zone 11A | Jan 1 | — | — | Dec 18 |
Borage is a cheerful, easy annual with brilliant blue star-shaped flowers that are edible, beautiful, and irresistible to bees.
Top Growing Tips
- Direct sow after last frost — doesn’t transplant well due to taproot
- Self-seeds aggressively; weed seedlings to control spread
- Freeze flowers in ice cubes for elegant cocktail garnishes
- Wilts in heat but recovers overnight — don’t overwater
- Plant near strawberries and tomatoes as a companion and bee attractor
Companion Planting
Good companions: tomatoes, strawberries, squash
Avoid planting near: No significant conflicts
Harvest Timeline
Harvest flowers anytime; pick regularly to extend bloom period
Growing borage in your region?
These dates come from your zone's frost windows. For the full month-by-month plan — succession sowing, variety picks, and timing tuned to your climate, not just your zone — our regional vegetable-gardening guides cover your area start to finish.
Find your regional growing guide