Common Name: forget-me-not
Type: Herbaceous perennial
Family: Boraginaceae
Zone: 5 to 9
Height: 0.50 to 0.75 feet
Spread: 0.75 to 1.00 feet
Bloom Time: June to August
Bloom Description: Light sky blue with yellow center
Sun: Full sun to part shade
Water: Medium to wet
Maintenance: Low
Suggested Use: Ground Cover, Water Plant, Naturalize, Rain Garden
Flower: Showy
Attracts: Butterflies
Tolerate: Deer, Wet Soil
Culture
Easily grown in organically rich, consistently moist to wet soils in full sun to part shade. Grows in up to 3” of standing water. Use containers for water garden plantings in order to control spread. For streams and ponds, place new plants directly in the soils of muddy banks at the water line. Plants will spread by creeping rhizomes but are not overly aggressive. Pinch young plants to promote bushiness. Plants will self seed. If additional plantings are desired, divide plant rhizomes in early spring. Stem cuttings may be taken in summer.
Noteworthy Characteristics
Genus name comes from the classical Greek name myosotis from mus meaning mouse and ous or otos meaning ear applied to plants with short pointed leaves, later transferred to this genus.
Specific epithet means scorpion for the flower cymes, particularly when in bud and early bloom, resemble a coiled scorpion’s tail.
'Semperflorens' is a dwarf form that grows to 6-8” tall. It is noted for having a more floriferous and longer bloom (semperflorens from Latin meaning always flowering) that typically extends from May to August and sporadically thereafter to frost.
Problems
No serious insect or disease problems. Susceptible to mildew and rust.
Uses
Wet areas including stream banks, water gardens, bogs or pond edges. Woodland gardens near water. Will naturalize to form an attractive flowering ground cover.