MOTHER'S HERB GARDEN: BORAGE

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Lately, more and more people have begun to understand just how limited — in both variety and nutritional value — our "modern" diets hove become. This realization has sparked a new and widespread interest in the culinary and therapeutic uses of herbs . . . those plants which — although not wellknown today—were, just one short generation
ago, honored "guests" can the dinner tables and in the medicine chests
of our grandparents' homes. In this regular feature, MOTHER examines the availability, cultivation, and benefits of our "forgotten" vegetable foods and remedies . . . and—we hope—helps prevent the loss of still another bit of ancestral lore.

Beautiful borage (Borago officinalis) is a native of Allepo, Syria. By the time the Roman Empire was at its height, however, the herb had been widely distributed throughout the Mediterranean region. The plant is believed to be the same one that Homer called "nepenthe", and Pliny praised the herb for its ability to drive away melancholy and bring pleasant forgetfulness.

BIG AND BEAUTIFUL

The pretty plant belongs as much in a flower garden as in an herb bed, and is well worth the large amount of space it requires. Germinating quickly from seed, borage grows from one to three feet tall . . . with coarse, four- to six-inch gray-green leaves.

Both the stems and foliage are covered with bristly hairs, and mature specimens produce clusters of five-pointed, starlike flowers that are almost an inch across.

Borage, though highly adaptable, prefers slightly poor soil with some sun and only a moderate amount of water. Young seedlings (which are difficult to trans plant) should be thinned to at least 18 inches apart. (Each plant can take up as much as two square feet of space, and produce literally hundreds of deep blue blossoms.)

When planted in the fall, borage generally blooms in May . . . while seeds sown in the spring will produce June and July blossoms. If you want a succession of flowers, seed at three-week intervals throughout the summer . . . or simply cut off the blooms to encourage flowering.

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