Scottish growing tool
Borage Variety Selector: Which One For Your Garden
Every recommendation below traces back to our full Borage varieties comparison — this page is the fast route to one answer for your specific situation, no clicking through required.
If: Growing it for the kitchen, leaves and flowers to use or Mainly planting for pollinators → Not sure, just give me the safest all-round choice or Not sure, just give me the safest all-round choice
Borago officinalis (standard species)
The strongest all-round choice for most Scottish gardens: fully hardy (H5), the most widely available seed, and the everyday default borage, with the largest, best-documented flowers for garnishing and the leaves most commonly used young.
If: A pale or white colour scheme in the border or Mainly planting for pollinators → The strongest documented pollinator credential
Borago officinalis 'Alba'
The direct fit for a white, cream or pale colour scheme, with white star-shaped flowers instead of blue. It's the only variety on the RHS Plants for Pollinators list, and it's classified as a herbaceous perennial rather than annual/biennial, unlike the other borage varieties here.
If: A low, spreading bed or edging plant rather than an upright one or Mainly planting for pollinators → Nectar later in the season, after most early-summer flowers finish
Borago pygmaea
The closer fit for a deliberate low, spreading bed or edging plant, with a rosette-forming habit up to 1m spread rather than the upright form of the species. Its longer flowering window, early summer through autumn, covers pollinators later into the season, but it's short-lived, so budget for eventual replacement.
If: Variegated foliage is the main draw
Borago officinalis 'Bill Archer'
The only variety with variegated, cream-and-green foliage rather than plain leaves. Far less growing detail is published for it than for the other three, no hardiness rating or cultivation section, so treat any specific claims about its behaviour in a Scottish garden with more caution.
Try another crop
- Angelica
- Apples
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- Aubergines
- Basil
- Bay
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- Blackcurrants
- Blueberries
- Borage
- Broad Beans
- Broccoli
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- Cabbage
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- Cauliflower
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- Chard
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- Comfrey
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- Dill
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- Florence Fennel
- French Beans
- Garlic
- Gooseberries
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- Jerusalem Artichoke
- Kale
- Kohlrabi
- Lavender
- Leeks
- Lemon Balm
- Lettuce
- Loganberries
- Mint
- Onions
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- Pak Choi
- Parsley
- Parsnips
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- Potatoes
- Pumpkins
- Quince
- Radish
- Raspberries
- Redcurrants and Whitecurrants
- Rhubarb
- Rocket
- Rosemary
- Runner Beans
- Sage
- Shallots
- Sorrel
- Spinach
- Spring Onions
- Squash
- Strawberries
- Summer Savory
- Swede
- Sweetcorn
- Tarragon
- Tayberries
- Thyme
- Tomatoes
- Turnip
- Winter Savory