Sweet Borage, the bee flower, is one of nature’s gifts to us.
–––
Sweet Borage, a common and easily overlooked plant is often thought of as a weed; something that intrudes on the polite civilised society of our flower beds.
Sweet in its name, but a rowdy intruder into our suburban sensibilities, a floral nomad that somehow doesn’t fit within the avenues and cul-de-sac’s.
Yet, this plant is a magician and a healer. It’s very wildness lends Sweet Borage the power of a shaman.
Almost every part of her is food, medicine, or balm to our bodies and souls.
The flowers are sweet and were used to crown many an Easter cake or fancy, the cooling leaves which taste of cucumber were added to salads or cooked like spinach.
There is no richer source of plant fatty acids than can be found in her seeds, and the whole of the her can be used as an anti-inflammatory….. she is a walking pharmacy and salad bar.
Now sadly pushed to the margins and looked upon with suspicion it is all to easy to forget our bond with plants — we were once so close with them.
Photo: Borage flower just below Facinas. Courtesy of the author.
