"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."
Robert Louis Stevenson




Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Borage for Fortitude, Calm, and Floral Ice Cubes, too!

Borage grows best for me in the winter months here in Southern California. I have had success with growing it in the summer, but it seems to look the best in winter, pest free with beautiful leaves.
This morning while walking around the herb garden I thought about a time that a friend of mine made Borage flower ice cubes for my birthday party.  They were so pretty and such a special surprise in lemonade she served.  Today I picked some of the blossoms and made these ice cubes. 
 
I picked the flowers and removed the stems from the flowers.  You need to pull this out very gently so as not to damage the flowers.  Let them sit in cool water just to make sure there are no little bugs.
Stems removed
Clean flowers placed in the ice cube tray.  Add bottled water only half -way up and freeze just until set, then fill the remainder of the way up to the top of the cubes but not over the edge of the container.  Make sure to use bottled water so you cubes will turn out clear.
Frozen cubes; some of the flowers are not visible here, but as they melt in your drink the cubes will be clear.
I used them in a Hibiscus Flower ice tea, today.

 The ice cubes look so pretty in my cut glass bowl with the sun shining through them.
Borage is native to the Mediterranean, where it is planted in gardens to attract honeybees.  I use organic seeds from Botanical Interests and direct seed in the herb garden.  It generally self-seeds each year, coming up in different areas of the garden.  The plants can grow up to two feet high and spread to three feet across, so give it plenty of room to spread.  The flowers can be pink and blue to purple on the same plant.  In colder areas, plant in the spring after all danger of frost.  Give it at least six hours of sun a day, and plant in general garden soil.


8 comments:

  1. How cool. Literally. How cool.

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  2. Simply beautiful, Carla. So envious that you can grow them!

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  3. Ann, Bah and Caroly,
    Ladies, thank you all for taking the time to visit my blog. Our weather has been so beautiful lately that I am feeling completely spoiled and so grateful, not only for living in CA but for having friends like you stopping by to visit.
    Have a wonderful weekend!

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  4. Wow! Your ice cubes are so beautiful! Thanks for sharing this wonderful idea. I have Indian Borage. I guess it could be different from yours since I've never seen the flowers.

    Lately I have cut a whole bunch of Basil and displayed them in a vase on the kitchen table. Somehow they reminded me of you as we had a conversation about Basil a long time ago.

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  5. What a fabulous idea, just beautiful. I'm thinking of doing it with my oregano blossoms. I've been afraid to grow borage in my garden because of the slugs.

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  6. Barbara, that is a great idea! I don't have the problem with slugs or snails at this time of year, thank goodness.

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  7. One, I love that you thought of me when you picked the basil. It is, next to Thyme, my favorite herb.

    It won't be too long before I will be planting basil again. Seems so far off though with the cold weather we have right now. Windy and only in the 60's here.

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Thank you for taking time to visit my blog, I love hearing from you, stay as long as you like, Carla