Forget-me-not

Sun

Partial shade; full sun in cool climates if the soil stays moist.

Water

Keep evenly moist but not waterlogged. Water during dry spells, especially while plants establish and flower.

Soil

Humus-rich, moisture-retentive, well-drained soil; tolerates acidic, neutral and alkaline conditions.

Height

0.5-1 ft (0.15-0.3 m)

Spread

0.5-1 ft (0.15-0.3 m) per plant; seedlings can form much wider patches.

Flowers

Spring to early summer; usually sky blue with yellow eyes, with pink and white garden forms also available.

Foliage

Soft, hairy, green leaves form low rosettes, with smaller leaves along the flowering stems. Rosettes may remain green through mild winters.

Growth

Fast; usually flowers in the spring after sowing.

Care needed

Low

• Pollinators
• Cold hardy
• Low allergen

Northern hemisphere months. In Australia, shift them by six.

Difficulty

Easy

Toughness

Fairly tough

Pick your zone, country, light and whether you have pets.

1. Planting day

   0.7 ft (0.22 m)

   full size

About 2 years to full size.

From a typical nursery size, at an average rate for this kind of plant. A rule of thumb, not a forecast.

Cats and dogs

Safe

Native to

the UK

Invasive in

the US and Australia

In the garden

Spreads vigorously: plan to contain it.

Growth rate

Fast

• Water at soil level when the surface starts to dry; avoid leaving roots in saturated soil.
• Work compost into poor soil before planting; routine feeding is usually unnecessary.
• Space young plants about 6-9 in (15-23 cm) apart for airflow.
• Apply a thin layer of leaf mould around plants to conserve moisture, keeping crowns uncovered.
• Thin self-sown seedlings and remove unwanted plants before they set seed.

Pruning. After flowering, pull out spent plants or cut stems to the base before seeds ripen to limit spread. Leave a few healthy plants to set seed if you want flowers the following spring.

Early spring

Plant nursery-grown plants and thin crowded overwintered seedlings.

Spring

Water during dry spells and remove any plants showing heavy mildew.

Late spring

Remove fading flower stems before seed ripens, or retain a few for self-sowing.

Summer

Sow seed thinly in trays or a prepared seedbed; keep moist and shaded from strong sun.

Autumn

Move young rosettes into their flowering positions while the soil is still workable.

• Plant beneath tulips and daffodils to create a blue spring carpet.
• Edge lightly shaded paths with loose, informal drifts.
• Fill gaps beneath deciduous shrubs before their canopy closes.
• Combine with primroses and bleeding hearts in moist woodland borders.

Garden styles it suits: Cottage garden, English country, Woodland, Romantic rose garden, Pastel border and Blues and silvers.

Plant it with: Tulips, Daffodils, Primroses, Bleeding hearts, Hostas and Ferns.

Wildlife: The small, open flowers provide nectar and pollen for small bees, hoverflies and other spring insects.

• Powdery mildew: thin crowded plants, water the soil rather than foliage, and remove badly affected plants.
• Slugs and snails: protect young rosettes by hand-picking pests or using an approved iron-phosphate bait according to its label.
• Wilting and early dieback in heat or drought: provide afternoon shade and regular watering; plants often decline naturally after flowering.
• Excessive self-seeding: remove spent plants before seed ripens and weed out surplus seedlings.

Not generally regarded as toxic to people, cats or dogs, but reliable horse-specific safety information is limited. It is an ornamental rather than a food plant; do not deliberately eat the leaves, flowers or seeds.

Where it spreads. Self-seeds freely and can spread aggressively in cool, moist gardens. It has escaped cultivation in parts of North America, including the northeastern United States and Pacific Northwest, and in southeastern Australia; keep it out of adjoining natural woodland and check local weed guidance.

• Water forget-me-not (Myosotis scorpioides)

  Usually grows in wet ground or shallow water, spreads by creeping stems and flowers later and longer into summer.

• Siberian bugloss (Brunnera macrophylla)

  Has much larger, heart-shaped basal leaves and usually white rather than yellow flower centres.

• Chinese forget-me-not (Cynoglossum amabile)

  Usually grows taller, flowers mainly in summer and produces conspicuously hooked, burr-like seeds.

Myosotis comes from Greek words meaning 'mouse ear', referring to the small hairy leaves, while sylvatica means 'of woodland'.

Propagation. Grow from seed sown in late spring or summer for flowering the following spring. Move self-sown seedlings while small; named varieties may not come true from collected seed.

Accepted botanical name

Myosotis sylvatica

In the US and Canada

Introduced in Canada and the lower 48 states.

Native range

Albania, Austria, Baltic States, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Central European Rus, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, East European Russia and France.

Measured

Soil pH 6.5 to 7. Average height 34 cm.

Sources: GBIF (CC BY 4.0), USDA PLANTS and Trefle (CC BY 4.0). The care and design notes are LandscapeGPT's own.