Field forget-me-not

How to recognise it

Growth habit

Annual or overwintering annual of 10–40 cm, often branched, covered all over in soft, spreading hairs.

Leaf

At the base a rosette of oblong, spoon-shaped leaves; on the stem lance-shaped, stalkless leaves of 2–5 cm, roughly hairy.

Flower

Flat, sky-blue flowers of 3–5 mm with five rounded lobes and a yellow eye, in a coiled spray that unrolls. From April to September.

Fruit/Seed

Four shiny brown nutlets inside the calyx. The calyx has hooked hairs and sits on a stalk 1.5–2 times as long as itself.

Roots

A thin, shallow taproot: the plant is easy to pull up.

Confusion with

Wood forget-me-not, also the usual garden kind, has larger flowers of 6–10 mm. Water forget-me-not grows at the water’s edge and has larger flowers and flat-lying hairs without hooks. Early forget-me-not has tiny flowers of 2–3 mm on stalks shorter than the calyx. Changing forget-me-not has flowers that open yellow and later turn blue.

Flowering: April–September · Pruning: July–August

Why grow it?

• One of the first wild flowers in the vegetable plot or border edge, from April onwards.
• Flowers for months on end: from April to September.
• Small bees, hoverflies and butterflies take nectar from it.
• Self-seeds and fills bare gaps between perennials and vegetables with a blue haze.
• A typical cornfield flower that recalls the colourful fields of the past.

Field forget-me-not: where does it grow best?

• In the wild: arable fields, vegetable plots, verges, waste ground, dunes, felled areas and clearings in open woodland.
• Sun to part shade.
• Dry to moist, loose soil, moderately fertile; sand and loam.
• In the garden: in a cornfield-flower corner, among vegetables, at the front of a border or under shrubs, where it can self-seed freely.

Goes well with

• Common poppy: Red flowers next to the blue, on the same arable soil.
• Cornflower: A second blue cornfield flower, which follows later in summer.
• Field pansy: Small creamy pansies on the same open ground.
• Scented mayweed: White daisy-like heads: together a classic cornfield-flower corner.

Field forget-me-not: when and how to plant it?

1. Buy seed of native origin from a wild-flower seed supplier, or ask for seed from someone who already has it in their garden.
2. Sow where it is to flower in August–September: the seedlings overwinter as rosettes and flower early in spring. Sowing in March–April also works; it will then flower a little later.
3. Scatter the seed thinly on loosened soil, rake it in lightly and firm.
4. Keep the soil moist until the seedlings appear, then thin to 15–20 cm.
5. After that there is almost nothing to do: it reseeds itself every year.
6. Never dig up plants from the wild; seed is cheap and germinates easily.

Care

Watering

Only when sowing and during long dry spells in spring.

Feeding

Not needed: on rich soil it goes floppy and is prone to powdery mildew.

Self-seeding

Let the plants drop their seed after flowering and only pull them up afterwards.

Spreading

It self-seeds freely, but has shallow roots and is easy to weed out.

Open ground

It needs bare patches to germinate; in dense turf it disappears.

Tip: Sow it in late summer under your perennials or between the currant bushes: in spring you will get a blue carpet that covers the soil before the rest of the border gets going.

Pruning and mowing

Pruning months: July–August.

When: In July–August, after the seed has fallen, pull up the spent plants.

How:

• Leave the plants until most calyces are brown and the seeds have dropped.
• Then pull them up, roots and all; shake them first over the spot where you want plants next year.
• Clear plants badly affected by powdery mildew a little earlier.
• Real pruning is not needed.

Pruning: when and how · Pruning calendar and basic rules

Propagation

Seed

Let the plant self-seed, or shake ripe stems over a paper bag in July–August and sow in August–September.

Moving seedlings

Young rosettes can be moved with a bit of soil in autumn or early spring.

Field forget-me-not: how does it get through the winter?

Hardy to −25 °C.

• Late-summer seedlings overwinter as small, hairy leaf rosettes.
• It tolerates hard frost; after a severe winter, seed in the soil produces new plants.
• Overwintered rosettes are the first to flower, from April.

Diseases and pests

• Powdery mildew: White powder on the leaves, especially late in the season and in dry weather. Pull up affected plants and put them in the household waste.
• Too many seedlings: It quickly fills bare patches. Weed out what you do not want; the roots are shallow.
• Clinging calyces: The hooked hairs catch on clothing and fur. Good for spreading, annoying after a walk: give your dog a brush.
• Slugs and snails: They eat young rosettes. Sow a little more thickly; there are usually enough left.

Through the year

• March: Rosettes grow. Sowing possible.
• April: First flowers.
• May: Full flower. Small bees and hoverflies.
• June: Flowering; the first fruits ripen.
• July: Flowering. Pull up spent plants once the seed has dropped.
• August: Clear spent plants. Sow for next spring.
• September: Last flowers. Sow. Young rosettes appear.
• October: Rosettes grow. Move seedlings if needed.
• December: Resting as a rosette.

Did you know?

• Myosotis means ‘mouse ear’, from the Greek mys (mouse) and otis (ear), after its short, hairy leaves.
• The name forget-me-not comes from a German legend: a knight picking flowers for his beloved fell into the river and threw her the posy, crying ‘forget me not’.
• Thanks to the hooked hairs on the calyx, the nutlets hitch rides on animals and clothing: that is how the plant spreads far and wide.