There is more to the brilliant blue of Myosotis Ultramarine than meets the eye, albeit you have to get down for a closer look! These are fabulous in spring, planted around bulbs, under shrubs or along the edges. All those flowers feature a tiny yellow central ring. This ring fades to white/cream. It’s thought this signals the nectar has gone, preventing pollinators from wasting energy on empty blooms. We know them as Forget-me-nots. The Latin Myosotis means mouse’s ear, a reference to the leaf shape
🌸 Flowering: April to June next year
📏 Height: to 15cm
🌿 Short-lived perennial, best treated as a biennial
Sow: probably best sown where they are to flower. They thrive in moist, well-drained soil and prefer partial shade. From March to May scatter seeds thinly and cover them very lightly with soil, as they need light to help them start growing. However, you can sow in modules, keep them damp and transplant in autumn or spring when the weather is cool and damp.
Grow: keep the soil damp until the seedlings appear. Thin the young plants out to 15cm apart when they are big enough to handle. Sown in spring, they put on green growth, look unpromising in winter before bursting into flower the following year.
Enjoy: if you want to ‘manage’ them, deadhead after flowering. Leave them alone if you're happy for them to choose where they'll appear next year.
🏡 In your garden
• Cottage and informal gardens
• City and courtyard gardens
• Patio and container plants
• Wildlife & pollinator plantings
• Flower borders and beds
• Garden edging and underplanting
🐝 Pollinator friendly
• RHS Plants for Pollinators recommended
• Supports early emerging insects
🐞 Wildlife friendly
• Food plant for several caterpillar species including some native Tiger Moths and the visiting Crimson Speckled Moth
💡 Did you know?
Many tiger moth caterpillars actively seek out forget-me-nots because the leaves contain toxic alkaloids. The caterpillars can safely absorb the alkaloids, making themselves distasteful to predatory birds.
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