SC - Borage (was Saxon Violets)

[lilinah at earthlink.net]

Alys Katharine wrote:
>Witteveen says that "One could make this sugar not only from roses 
>but also from violets
>(Viola tricolor L. and Viola odorata L.) and later also from borage 
>and rosemary."

Hmmm, sounds good.

Borage flowers are sooo beautiful (ok, so the hairy plants aren't 
real pretty but i hear the leaves are good in beverages) and i like 
to toss flowers into salads. Besides using the flower to flavor 
sugar, were borage leaves used in "sallats" or other dishes? Or does 
it just fall into the general term of worts?

While i *may* be able to get some Medieval gourds growing (i just 
noticed that the best place would be in front of the trellis hiding 
the currently broken hot tub), i doubt i could get borage into the 
back yard. There's nothing growing in front of the trellis, but the 
landlord is filling other available space with stuff he's getting at 
the garden shop or Home Depot or whatever.

It used to be cold, damp, and un-green, just bare hard-packed clay-y 
earth, but because the landlord is trying to get a bank loan on the 
property, he has rolled out that grass you buy in rolls (turf?), 
which seems to be doing well (which is good, it looks like a yard 
rather than an abandoned lot), and planted some decorative flowers 
(probably won't last long). Now, borage plants, even with their 
beautiful blue flowers, just don't look decorative, more like 
weeds... sigh. Still, if the decorative plants do die...

Now, i'm not contemplating herbacide, i just figure that, with so 
little sunlight in the yard and no one really caring for the "fancy 
plants", they might not make it, and i can sneak in some low overhead 
plants (and edible, too).

Anahita al-shazhiyya
whose thumb is looking slightly green,
must be the dye fading on one of my linen tunics