Click below to listen to my 2 min. Garden Bite radio show: Forget me nots
Some friends of mine live on land that’s in a State Park. Every spring they have a sea of blue in their yard. It’s not because it’s all that natural, but because, when their daughter was little she received a packet of Forget-Me-Nots.
I don’t know anyone that has donated for some school activity that hasn’t received a packet of Forget-me-Nots.
You can still almost see where they were tossed and Forgotten About! These flowers are such a pretty blue and a most welcome sight in Spring.
While not everyone welcomes them, they can become invasive, they are NOT favorites of rabbits and deer, but they DO attract wildlife such as butterflies.
As I said, Forget-me-not has the potential to be invasive. This is because it reseeds, allowing it not only to survive for years in the landscape but to spread. The site, Minnesota Wildflowers, has it marked ERADICATE!
And, it is considered a noxious weed in fairly close to home, like my friend’s place, where it has naturalized. Here’s the deal, for them it’s not an issue but other folks are wishing they could forget Forget-Me-Nots.
You can cut down on reseeding if you deadhead the flowers. Some gardeners, and homeowners in the woods, however, are quite happy to let this attractive plant spread.
The area it’s in is only partial shade and tolerates moist soil. As a biennial, forget-me-not is short-lived. But its capacity to reseed makes up for its short lifespan. Forget-me-not can be used as a ground cover, in a wooded area or in more sun in a rock garden or cottage garden. The flowers are small but when there are so many it’s like a little blue lake!