FORGET-ME-NOTS -- SMALL FLOWERS, BIG IMPACT!

MYOSOTIS SYLVATICA, or FORGET-ME-NOT, is a  short-lived perennial, or biennial, that packs a big punch in your garden beds.  Their clusters of tiny clear blue, white or pink flowers have a yellow eye and are spring and early summer bloomers, and, if planted strategically in your beds, can make your beds look like one in the gardening magazines.    The thing I really like about Forget-Me-Nots is that once you have a plant, it's easy to continue their propagation--they reseed very easily and abundantly, and are also easy to move in either the fall or early spring.  I always have a bunch in the upper beds, where they are protected and it is shady. They look great grown amongst the bleeding heart, primrose, tulips, daffodils, and hellebores.  A little later on in the season, when the hostas unfurl, and the ferns are out, they look equally as good with them.  Their little mouse-ear leaves are gray-green, and when in bloom they are only about 5-10" tall.  They do well in poor to average soil.  One big plus for them is that they are not invasive--they stay in their clump, and their root system is extremely shallow, making it easy to move them.  They are semi-evergreen; it isn't uncommon for them to have both blackened and green leaves on the same plant.  If this is the case, as the days go by in early spring, the clump will produce nice new  leaves, and the blackened ones will just fall off.  In late April, they will have their airy, beautiful tiny blooms in profusion.  Another added feature is that Forget-Me-Nots will also bloom in full sun, although I grow mine exclusively in the shade.  And, last but not least, I want to mention that the color of the blue variety is stunning!  It is the perfect 'filler' for the spring and early summer beds.  The plants go dormant in the summer, then new little seedlings appear in the fall.  It is at that time that you can space them out for how you want them to look in your beds in the spring.  Any minor changes that you want or need to make once spring is here can easily be made by gently digging up the plant and placing it where you desire it.  This plant will definitely make your beds go from average to superior!