I have never had luck with them, either, popmama.

From what I have read, they are a bit of a bog/waterside plant and like damp shady areas. Damp areas are hard to find in my yard, except during months like we had this spring in May, lol. They are short lived but supposedly seed readily (not in my yard) and thus they can be invasive under the right conditions, so perhaps I am happy I haven't had any luck with them! Here is a telling remark about the plant: "Forget me not flower care will likely include removing these plants from unwanted spaces. While the forget me not flower is attractive in many designs, the free seeding specimen may take over areas where other plants are planned. Use the forget me not plant in areas that are too wet to support the root system of other flowers." (From http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ornamental/flowers/forget-me-nots/growing-forget-me-nots.htm )

There is a forget-me-not that is native to Colorado, however - variously known as Myosotis alpestris, Myosotis sylvatica or Eritrichium nanum. I haven't tried it but maybe it would do better here than the "regular" forget-me-nots (Myosotis scorpioides) and it certainly has that lovely vibrant blue color of the true forget-me-not. It is an Alpine plant so clay soil still might be a problem, but I bet it would do well in a rock garden setting as that area would have improved drainage. Here is a link to some info about the Colorado wildflower: http://lifescapecolorado.com/blog/plants/alpine-forget-me-nots/

I hope others will chime in with their hopefully positive "forget-me-not" experiences; someone must be having luck with them here, right?!? And I would love to add their lovely blue flowers to my garden....

Holly

Thanks, Holly. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. That alpine variety is adorable. I would love to try some of those.

I like the way the alpine version looks, too. Now we need to find a source for the seeds or plants....

There does seem to be a bit of a mix up about the botanical name of the plant - some sources say that 'sylvatica" is actually a native European forget-me-not, while others say that it is the same plant as the 'alpestris,' which is native here. lol - I think I will look for the plant under the name of Eritrichium nanum; that seems safest in terms of getting the correct plant and it is listed on the USDA site as our native plant, the arctic alpine forget-me-not.

Of course, I would be happy to get any of the forget-me-nots to flourish here - without being invasive, of course :-p - but the Colorado native is my preference.

Holly

PopMama and OakIris,

Chances are if you pick up some plants OR commercial seed you're gonna be getting Myosotis alpestris. Half the commercial seed packs won't even have a species on them. Myosotis palustris is the "water plant" one. (I've never heard of Eritrichium!)

My advice is to pick up a commercial pack of seed--whatever it says, wait till it's cooling a little bit (current weather not withstanding!!!), maybe around the end of August, and sprinkle a few seeds in a few different spots--in the shade. They will definitely do best in the shade! That's what I did about 10 years ago, and they now, delightfully, come up here, there, and everywhere--almost all have stayed on the shade side. They're very shallow rooted and very easy to pull out if there's more than you want! I have them even coming up in the grass sometimes, and they just get mowed with the grass--I don't consider it to be a problem!

They do like "moist" conditions, so be sure they're not getting "too" dry, a mulch helps.

If planted in late summer, at least some of them should come up in the fall, and they'll be the ones that bloom first in spring. They're VERY short-lived, so you need to let at least some of them produce seed each year to "keep them going." When they start to bloom they'll be short "pretty" plants, but the longer they bloom, the taller and "uglier" they get. By the time the seed is ripening they look pretty awful, but you really do need to let them drop seed!

By the "second year" the plants look really bad, so what I do is let them drop seed and then take a scissors and snip each "old" plant off just above the soil, leaving the roots to decompose in the soil. (Very small ones that look bad I just pull out!) By then new plants are already starting for the following spring, and more will keep germinating--it's a kind of constant thing! Sometimes for ones that germinate mid-summer that are already getting dead, ratty looking leaves by fall, I go around and cut them (individual plants) down to just above the crown in late fall or early winter. That gets them new foliage to "look pretty" when they bloom the following spring. Years when there are a lot of them, I just pull out the ones that look too ratty for me!

Last winter virtually all of the ones that germinated last summer died in our insane temp swings, so the only ones I had this year were the ones that germinated this spring! They're done blooming and looking really awful right now, but I'm waiting another week or two to be sure they drop enough seed before I cut out the old plants!

Don't expect to have "a forget-me-not in a specific place!" Just let them come up here and there around your other plants and pull out the ones that are clearly "in the wrong place!"

I haven't gotten around to eating yet today, so have to go!

Skybird

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/tjEkeIsfSSsL5LJ2beDy8DluDqFsYa8lXiqgQsjeDBg?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/kWtwHC8e_atlEzyYt-alRDluDqFsYa8lXiqgQsjeDBg?feat=directlink

Almost done blooming, getting tall and leggy! Need to be left for a few more weeks till the seed is ripening and dropping. The seed is VERY tiny!

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/jTV9SAxzIHfm8CTgZzEbqnSPNc76d8NSMIR_ruEbe2U?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/dCfDdmcPf2GVbpcy__kcVfgUcP2kjYyd5Da_HXpBd-k?feat=directlink

I bet you can find them in Boulder at Harlequins Gardens. They sell Colorado born and raised plants.

http://www.harlequinsgardens.com/mikls-articles/long-blooming-perennials-co/

Harlequin Gardens used to have their entire plant list online. But they do not anymore. Maybe I can call. I've been searching online and can't seem to find any source for the alpine ones.

Thank you for the info and the photos, Skybird. Nice to see that someone here is having luck growing forget-me-nots of whatever variety; give me hope!

I can't find a source of the Eritricium nanum, seeds or plants, either, popmama. The Myosotis alpestris seeds do seem to be available - you can even buy them on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/FORGET-Myosotis-Alpestris-Flower-Seeds/dp/B004YR4XVC - so I may go that route as Skybird suggested. I hope you let us know what you find out from Harlequin's about our native forget-me-not; if any nurseries around here know about the plant, I would think they would be the ones to do so, and they may have a source for the seeds, too.

Holly

I looked at the plant list at Timberline. They are often known for alpine or rock garden plants, but it's not on their list either.

Forget-me-nots are a "spring thing," and I'd be kind of surprised if you'd find them in pots anywhere anymore this summer. They'd just look really bad so most retail places wouldn't have them available anymore since people don't buy plants that "look really bad!"

But they're SO easy to start from seed! Pick up a couple packs of seed, wait till it's cooling some, and scatter a dozen or two seeds in a few "different" (fairly small) spots, "scratch" them in (or put mulch on top of them), and wait! Keep the "spots" fairly small to start with, till you know what the seedlings look like, so you know what it is that's coming up the first time--so you don't pull them out thinking they're weeds! (The seedlings can look kind of "weedy!") Don't worry about the species. You may be seeing pictures that "look different," but I'd be VERY surprised if you could see a "difference" between different species if you were growing them in your yard. As you can see from my pics, I can choose the pics that make them look "short and cute" or "tall and leggy," and they're all gonna start out short and cute and wind up tall and leggy. When I was selling them, I couldn't tell any difference at all between the "regular" ones we sold and the ones (M. palustris) we had sitting in a water tank that were sold as water plants! (But the M. alpestris would probably die if left sitting in water!) Also, with TRUE "alpine" plants, they normally do worse down here in the lowlands with our heavy soils. Go with whatever you find in seed packets, it'll probably be alpestris or sylvatica (and I'm not sure, but I think the only "difference" there is that the Guys In The Suits can't decide what species to call it!), and plant some seeds! I can't imagine you won't get flowers next spring!

If you want to try "something different," consider a false forget-me-not, Brunnera macrophylla. You won't get nearly as many flowers, but very pretty, and a nice addition to a shade garden! I got my 'Looking Glass', the one with the "whitest" leaves, at a swap several years ago. There are also ones with plain green leaves, and others with green and white leaves. White leaves help "brighten up" shady areas! The only pics I seem to have of it blooming are from '12 when it was still pretty small. I have a pic from this year, but not when it's blooming! Mine is in heavy clay and doesn't get much bigger every year. In good soil they can spread quite a lot! (And the leaves would get "considerably" bigger than the one in my pics!)

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/668S1_juAo0G1jK6F3kbeA6vb2FQp28JjCT4rlaJfOg?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/sdKjWke8LhCNME_Ak8DtDw6vb2FQp28JjCT4rlaJfOg?feat=directlink

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/DHdoMSFDgIQMHWyySxUQB6dtHZHTh5d06Slth8pk5yQ?feat=directlink

Yeah that's some "real" forget-me-nots in the lower right corner of the third pic! [The chicken wire on the planter in the third pic is my attempt to keep the neighbor's ***** cats from using it as a litter box!!!]

Don't overthink this one! Get some seeds and enjoy them next spring!

Skybird

As a new gardener, I actually have three forget-me-not plants that have been blooming for two months. They are near a north facing wall in very good soil at the bottom of an incline (the water runs down keeping them moist.) I am at 6800 feet, on the side of a mountain.

Lovely wee things. I hope you are more fortunate with them soon.

Hubby picked out one of Skybird's forget-me-nots at the spring swap when we hosted last year, planted it in full sun, it definitely is NOT boggy there, and the little devils came up all over the place this year and are currently spitting seeds out for next year's advance. I'll try to remember that's what they are when I start planting up for next spring's swap; hopefully someone else can enjoy (until they take over the world) them as much as we have!

I agree that starting forget-me-nots from seed should be pretty easy; I am going to give it try as soon as I can get some seeds.

The Brunnera macrophylla (also known as Siberian bugloss) that Skybird suggested is a very nice plant, IMHO. Like the forget-me-nots (Mystosis or Eritrichium varieties,) Brunnera is in the Borage family as well. I think I have the "Jack Frost" cultivar and it does very well here. It spreads by rhizomes and my small plant has turned into a patch about 3-4 feet square this year (it is about 6 years old, it isn't as if the plant got huge in one season, lol) so be aware that this variety at least can get quite big! The blue flowers in the spring time are quite lovely and the wonderful variegation of the leaves keeps the plant interesting throughout the growing season. (The original Brunnera plant does not have leaf variegation; the leaves are a heavily textured green; still very nice but I think the variegated cultivars are quite stunning.)

Holly

Holly,

I had to google your plant and saw another cultivar of Brunnera that you may like: (brunnera white leaves). It seems that brunnera flowers in spring and forget-me-nots in summer, so perhaps if the two grow near each other, one could have lovely little blue flowers all season. Maybe, though, they'd crowd each other out. Dunno.

Janni Kristen

I finally took a look at my Brunnera and realized I got a bit mixed up. I don't have the labels anymore, but the Brunnera that is "taking over the world" in my side shade garden is actually Brunnera macrophylia 'Langtrees,' not 'Jack Frost.' I do have a small 'Jack Frost' that I planted in another shady area under some spruce trees. If it gets as big as the Langtrees it will probably outgrow the site, but I will deal with that then!

Wish I had photos of them in bloom, but I took these today so the flowers are long gone. Here is a photo of my 'Langtrees' -

with a close up of the leaves:

Holly

I thought I would update this thread to show the Brunnera Macrophylla Forget Me Not that I bought last year. While it isn't quite as dainty as the traditional one that I long for, it did do well. I planted this near the end of the Summer season last year and this is what it looks like today.

This Forget-Me-Not did NOT forget to come back. =)

Brunneras are great. They bloom in the spring with flowers that look like the forget-me- nots. The foliage remains all summer and the Jack Frost is beautiful. And, they are very hardy!!

Glad to see that your Brunnera survived the winter and is looking quite happy, popmoma. Still haven't picked up any "true" forget-me-not seeds (or plants) for my yard, but the "false" forget-me-nots (Brunneras) do give us a taste of that lovely blue and the foliage is quite a bit more interesting, too, so I am content for the moment. (Maybe Skybird will bring some more plants/seeds to our spring swap.....hint, hint! lol. )

Holly

I started some FMNs from seed (indoors) a few years ago and they were exceptionally easy. Came back in force the following spring, in an area of my garden that got a fair amount of shade and moisture. According to my spreadsheet, they were Myosotis silvatica. I have moved so I can't say what they're doing now.

OakIris,

I have plants coming out the kazoo this year and was planning to pot some of them up to bring to the swap after I got home from my trip, but since I'll be out of town until after the swap this time, that won't be happening. But, I did just look and in 2012 I actually took the time to collect some seed, and I'll do my best to remember to send a little packet of them along with Barb for you. When you get them I need to warn you that most of what you see in the baggie will be chaff! The actual seeds are the hard little black things!!! When I collected them there were a whole lot of them that had gone to seed, so I just cut the whole plants off at the bottom and stuck them in a bag and left them sit to dry completely for a month or two. When I got around to it I just SHOOK the bag really well, and since everything was SO dry, a lot of "plant debris" came off along with the seeds!

What I recommend you do with them is to wait till late summer or early fall, then "rough up" the soil in a couple small places, take a BIG pinch of "seeds" (the stuff in the baggie!) and scatter it in each of the places you've "roughed up." Then rub your hand over the soil where you scattered the seeds to "mix them in" just a little bit, and then clearly mark where you planted them 'cause they kind of look like weeds when they first come up and otherwise you might decide to pull them out when you see them and then think the seed I gave you was no good!!! ;-) Depending on the weather, some of them will probably come up before winter gets really cold, and then more will come up in spring. Any that come up will bloom next summer! And once you get a couple that bloom--you'll never get rid of them again! In this case, I don't consider that to be a bad thing! When they start to drop seeds you can either scatter some of it in other places where you want them--or you can just let them do their own thing and they'll wind up coming up all over the place anyway in a couple years!

After any individual plant blooms it's gonna look REALLY ratty, and there's no way to make it look "good" again, so once you know for sure they've dropped some seed, I recommend just pulling the "old" plants out (I cut them off at the top of the soil, leaving the roots in the soil to decompose!). Since, once they drop seed, you'll ALWAYS have more, there's no need to try to "save" the old ones.

If you have any other questions, I might not be back to answer them till after I get home after my trip. I'm crazy busy trying to get ready to go, and now something "legal" came up that's gonna take a bunch of the time I already don't have!

Have fun at the swap, and enjoy your forget-me-nots next spring,

Skybird

Edited to add: After you sow the seed it would be a really good idea to mulch that area with some sort of "wood mulch" to help keep the surface of the soil moist. If you already mulch, just do whatever you normally do!

Edited a second time to add: Mine are just starting to bloom! And my Brunnera 'Looking Glass' is in full bloom too! Love that BLUE!

Hi OakIris! Will you be coming to the Spring Swap on 29 May in Elizabeth? If so, I'd love to see your Jack Frost - it's beautiful!

Will the Brunnera re-bloom if I deadhead?

@Skybird - I am hoping to make it to the spring swap and would love to give some of your forget-me-not seeds a try; thank you for the thorough instructions - and hope you have a great trip!

@FlowerBelle - well, as you can see, I do hope to get to the swap, but, I wasn't planning to bring any Jack Frost with me.....I will take a look to see if there might be a section I can remove and pot up, however - no promises, though! I will get a photo or two taken of the plant - like Skybird's Brunnera, it is in full bloom and looking lovely.

@popmama - Sadly, Brunnera does not rebloom; it is just a spring-flowering plant. The deadheading will prevent it from reseeding, but since I don't find the plant at all invasive (and wouldn't mind a few more showing up anyway!) I don't bother with removing the spent blooms.

Holly