Forget-me-not

About Forget-me-not

Forget-me-nots carpet spring beds with tiny sky-blue flowers with yellow or white eyes, and also come in pink and white (NC State). Garden forget-me-not is a short-lived plant grown as an annual or biennial that reseeds so freely a patch can last for years; water forget-me-not creeps along wet ground and pond edges. Both have escaped into the wild: Wisconsin regulates both as restricted invasive plants, and Connecticut bans water forget-me-not.

Garden forget-me-not is hardy in zones 3-8 and water forget-me-not in 5-9 (NC State). Invasive: Wisconsin's NR 40 rule lists both species as restricted (no moving, giving away or planting them without a permit), and Connecticut prohibits selling or planting M. scorpioides; check your state's rules, and keep it away from woods and streams.

When to plant

Timing is counted from your average last spring frost (and first fall frost). Sow & Tell works out the actual dates for your ZIP code.

• Start seeds indoors: 8 to 10 weeks before the last frost

For flowers the same year, start seed indoors 8-10 weeks before the last spring frost. To grow it as a biennial, sow outdoors in midsummer for flowers the next spring (NC State). After that, dropped seed usually keeps a patch going. We found no sourced day count to first bloom.

Soil

Rich, consistently moist, well-drained soil; it handles clay loam and even shallow standing water, and water forget-me-not grows in up to 3 inches of water (NC State). Give it afternoon shade where summers are hot.

Plant in organically rich soil that stays moist (NC State).

Feeding

Don't let the soil dry out, and give afternoon shade where summers are hot (NC State). We found no extension feeding schedule for forget-me-nots.

Harvest

Blooms in spring (April-May), with a few flowers into summer (NC State). Deadhead promptly to stretch the bloom and limit seeding. Cut stems for little bouquets when about half the flowers are open (Oklahoma State).

Varieties (10)

NC State documents these 10 cultivars. Water forget-me-not (M. scorpioides) types are regulated in some states; see the invasive file.

Diseases and problems

Powdery mildew, Rust

In the kitchen

Safety: We found no extension source listing forget-me-not as poisonous or as an edible flower, so treat it as an ornamental only.

Pets: Not listed by the ASPCA (we found no forget-me-not entry). The ASPCA does list hound's tongue (Cynoglossum amabile), a forget-me-not look-alike in the same family, as toxic to horses.