A scripture verse that speaks to gardeners, as the growing season begins and we plant tiny seeds and watch for new growth, is “Just as Christ was raised from the dead … we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4 ).

It is spirit lifting to look out at your garden and see a blue mist of Forget-Me-Not or Myosotis Sylvatica flowers. My friend attended a baby shower and brought home an adorable favor for guests: a packet of Blue Bird Forget-Me-Not seeds. The seeds came with a little poem: “Please plant these seeds and watch them bloom, Just like our Baby Boy who will be here soon!”

A seed packet is a lovely gift for any gathering and I planted the extra pack she gave me earlier today.

Do you love the color blue in your garden, or growing wild in shady places, and find Forget-Me-Nots enchanting? The poet, Patience Strong, wrote of this flower: “When bees hum in the linden tree and roses bloom in cottage plots, Along the brookside banks we see the blue wild forget-me-nots.”

These flowers grow wild in many areas of North America and Europe, and while admired for their blue blossoms, there are pink and white forms too. Forget-Me-Not thrives in dappled shade, needs ample moisture, and the tallest are only twelve inches high, so they make great bedding plants. If your spot is very sunny you can grow this flower if it is kept moist. These cool season flowers may perish under extreme heat and drought conditions.

Plant the seeds from May to July, and, being hardy biennials and frost hardy to 5 degrees (zone 7), the next spring they will reward you with flowers. These vigorous plants will self sow and to enjoy flowers more quickly you can purchase plants. The flowers are tiny, about the size of a finger tip, and usually have a dainty yellow center and are ideal companions planted around spring blooming bulbs like yellow or pink tulips.

Blue Bird has sky blue blossoms on mound shaped dwarf plants, well suited for any partly shady location. Other popular varieties are Music, the bubble gum pink Rosylva, ivory white Victoria White, Royal Blue and Carmine King. The Forget-Me-Not is the state flower of Alaska, and lovers of a cloud of blue flowers in our gardens agree that the folks of Alaska made a brilliant choice.

 

Copyright © by Terra Hangen