Forget-me-not: what does it look like and how to grow?

Blooming forget-me-nots are able to charm at first sight with their fragile grace and delicate beauty. With their help, you can effectively decorate unpresentable corners of the garden, decorate the voids in the flower garden, equip luxurious borders and spring flower beds. What types of forget-me-nots are popular with gardeners and landscape designers, and what are the features of growing these flowers?

Forget-me-not is a genus of herbaceous annuals and perennials of the Borage family, numbering over 60 species. Its natural habitat is the territory of Europe, the USA, Australia, New Zealand, North and South Africa, Asia.

Most of the members of the genus are compact, low or medium-sized plants, the height of which can vary from 5 to 40 centimeters. The stems of the plant are branched, erect or ascending, pubescent or smooth. Basal leaves are usually spatulate or ovoid. Stem leaves are oblong, lanceolate or narrow-lanceolate, pointed, dark emerald or gray-green.

The flowers are small, usually reaching 0.7-1.1 centimeters in diameter, collected in curls or cyst-like inflorescences. The color of the flowers can be sky blue, pale or deep pink, milky white. The heart of the flower is golden yellow. The root system of the culture is shallow, shallow underground. The beginning of flowering in most species occurs in May-June. The average flowering time is 35-45 days.

Forget-me-nots prefer to grow on well-moistened, loose soils, but some species thrive on sandy and even rocky soils.

Scientists know more than 60 types of forget-me-nots, many of which are cultivated by gardeners as beautiful ornamental plants. It should be noted that not only wild-growing species of forget-me-nots have become widespread in landscape design, but also their cultural forms and varieties bred by breeders. A striking example of a cultured form is garden forget-me-not with large sky-blue flowers, appreciated by gardeners for unpretentious care and resistance to pathogens.

We will give a description of some other types of culture.

Forget-me-not creeping - a wild species of herbaceous perennials found in the countries of Northern and Eastern Europe. Plant height depends on growing conditions and can vary from 7 to 45 centimeters. Branching stems, ascending, slightly pubescent. Basal leaves are wide, lanceolate, and stem leaves are narrow, with a pointed apex. Flowering dates are from June to July. The flowers of the creeping forget-me-not are numerous, symmetrical, small, five-petal, pale blue in color and with a yellow core.

Forget-me-not field (meadow) - a species of herbaceous annuals and biennials found in Europe, Asia, North Africa and the Canary Islands. Representatives of this species are grown as plants that serve as a source of medicinal raw materials. Plant height is 40-60 centimeters.Stem single, ascending, covered with short sparse hairs. The flowering period lasts from May to September. The flowers are small (about 3 millimeters in diameter), light blue, united in small loose brushes.

Forget-me-not forest - a kind of beautiful biennials and perennials, which has many varieties with flowers of snow-white, blue and pale pink color. Plants reach a height of 35-38 centimeters. Stems are highly branched, pubescent, ascending. Basal leaves will be elliptical, collected at the base into a rosette. Stem leaves are lanceolate, elongated. The flowers are bright blue, with a white-yellow core, reach 1 centimeter in diameter and are collected in lush curls.

Forget-me-not swamp - a typical type of culture found in East Asia, Western Europe and the European part of Russia. The average plant height is 30-35 centimeters. Stems are solitary, ascending, covered with large elongated leaves. The flowers are deep blue in color with a golden yellow core, reaching 1-1.3 centimeters in diameter.

Forget-me-not oak - a species of wild herbaceous perennials, which has become widespread in ornamental gardening. The height of this unpretentious small-flowered plant varies from 20 to 40 centimeters. Stems are solitary, pale green with a grayish tinge, erect or ascending. The flowers are small, light blue, united in small inflorescences.

Forget-me-not rare-flowering - a species of herbaceous annuals, common in Eastern and Central Europe. The average plant height is about 20 centimeters. Stems are juicy, fragile, branching at the base, lying or erect. Leaves are elongated, lanceolate, pubescent. Flowers are solitary, small, located on thin pedicels. The color of the petals ranges from light blue to almost white.

Alpine forget-me-not - a kind of beautiful herbaceous perennials, found mainly in Central Europe. In the wild, it grows on rocky and sandy slopes. Depending on the growing conditions, the height of the plants can be from 5 to 30 centimeters or more. The flowers are numerous, small, pale blue or azure in color.

Turfy forget-me-not - a kind of low perennials, widespread in Eurasia. Plants grow mainly in damp meadows and swamps, as well as along the shores of lakes and rivers. The average plant height is 20-30 centimeters. The flowers are small, collected in racemose inflorescences. Flowering begins in late May and ends in September.

The unpretentiousness and endurance of forget-me-nots allow you to grow them both at home and in the open field. However, in both cases, the florist should follow a number of simple recommendations regarding the features and timing of planting.

Before planting forget-me-nots in open ground, you need to find a suitable place for them on the site. A shady corner of a garden with loose, moist and moderately fertile soil is ideal. It is not allowed to plant these flowering plants in areas with high groundwater levels.

Planting hardened seedlings in open ground is usually carried out in late April or early May. Plants are planted at a distance of 10-20 centimeters from each other. When planting, it is not recommended to deeply bury the bushes into the ground. Sowing seeds in cold greenhouses is carried out in May or June. Grown seedlings are allowed to be transplanted to a permanent place in early September or next spring.

When growing forget-me-nots at home, it is allowed to plant plants in pots at any time of the year. However, flower growers recommend carrying out this procedure in the fall, when the plants no longer need to expend energy on the development of shoots and leaves. At this time of the year, forget-me-not bushes are planted at home in pots or containers with a soil mixture consisting of 2 parts of sod land, 1 part of humus and 1 part of clean sand. After planting, the plants are placed in a cool place for the period of their adaptation to room conditions.

Forget-me-nots are very unpretentious plants that are resistant to negative environmental factors. The main care for them is timely watering and occasional feeding.

Forget-me-nots, being moisture-loving plants, painfully tolerate a lack of water in the soil. Irregular watering can negatively affect not only the quality of flowering, but also the general health of these plants.

Watering should be carried out regularly, avoiding the drying out of the soil surface around the plants.

Experienced gardeners argue that forget-me-nots do not have a special need for feeding. However, the application of fertilizers before and during the budding period of plants will significantly improve the quality of their flowering. For top dressing, any complex fertilizer based on phosphorus and potassium should be used.

These flowering and unpretentious plants have a superficial root system, which greatly facilitates and simplifies their transplantation. Most often, gardeners transplant young and adult plants in the fall, trying to catch up before the onset of frost.

Before planting the plants, shallow holes are arranged in a new place. Then the selected bushes are carefully dug from the old place, being careful not to damage the stems and fibrous superficial roots. The extracted plants are placed in the holes, the roots are covered with fertile soil and watered.

For the propagation of forget-me-nots, gardeners use the following methods:

• seminal;
• vegetative (cuttings, cuttings).

To obtain early shoots, it is recommended to sow seeds in containers in early March. There is no need to sprinkle the seeds with sand or bury them in the ground. Seeds are sown into pre-made shallow (up to 0.5 centimeters) grooves, after which they are watered abundantly. Next, the container with crops is placed in a transparent plastic bag or covered with glass. Before emergence, crops are regularly ventilated and sprayed with water from a spray bottle. Shoots usually appear on the 6-14th day.

When a pair of true leaves is formed on the seedlings, young plants can be planted in separate pots with a loose soil mixture. Before planting in open ground, the seedlings are hardened by placing them during the day in a cool place (on the balcony). 2 weeks after planting in open ground, the plants are fed with light mineral fertilizer.

To grow forget-me-nots from top cuttings, it is necessary to harvest planting material in May-June. Cuttings are cut from healthy adult bushes, separating the apical part about 5 centimeters long from their stems.

The harvested cuttings are planted in small greenhouses, where constant air and soil moisture is maintained.Before the planting material takes root, the greenhouses are kept shaded, protected from direct sunlight. Every day, containers with cuttings are ventilated, and the soil is sprayed with water from a spray bottle.

The endurance of the root system of perennial forget-me-nots makes it easy to breed them by dividing the bush. This procedure is carried out at the beginning of the growing season (early spring).

To obtain planting material, strong adult plants are dug out of the ground and each bush is divided in two. On each part (division) there should be a sufficient number of roots and rudiments of young shoots.

Forget-me-nots are considered hardy plants, they are rarely exposed to diseases or pests. Most often, such problems arise when the rules of agricultural technology are not followed and recommendations for plant care are violated.

One of the most common pests of garden flower crops is aphids. The fact that forget-me-nots suffered from this parasite is evidenced by inhibition of shoot growth, drying and rolling of leaves. The affected bush looks weakened, lethargic. The parasite can be detected by examining the inside and axils of the leaves, where whole colonies of aphids often accumulate.

Drying of plants, curling of leaves and dying off of shoots - characteristic signs of spider mite infestation... Also, small clusters of grayish-white cobwebs on the leaves and stems of forget-me-nots indicate its presence.

Improper watering and excessive thickening of the plantings can be the reasons development of powdery mildew in forget-me-nots... This disease is characterized by the appearance of dirty gray and brown spots on the leaves of plants.

Irrigation irregularities and water stagnation in the soil often become the reasons for the development of root rot... With this dangerous disease, plants begin to become covered with gray, dirty yellow or rusty brown spots. Often, an unpleasant putrid smell begins to emanate from the affected flowers.

Forget-me-nots are able to organically fit into the atmosphere of any flower garden or garden. They can be used to decorate the boundaries of artificial reservoirs on the site, to create picturesque spring beds and rockeries.

Low-growing forget-me-nots will be an excellent decoration for an elegant alpine slide. In addition to them, you can plant lilac, purple or white stoniferous phlox, which will emphasize the unity of the composition and make it brighter.

Forget-me-nots go well with other ornamental crops that bloom in spring. So, scarlet tulips, snow-white crocuses, sunny daffodils, porcelain-white chionodoxes and purple muscari will become ideal neighbors for them.

With the help of forget-me-nots, you can diversify the Moorish lawn, revive the empty spaces under the trees in the garden. They can also be used as ground covers, which will mask the unevenness of the terrain on the site.

Forget-me-nots are successfully combined with emerald ferns and noble decorative conifers: thuja, juniper.They also look interesting in group plantings together with monophonic and variegated hosts, purple-pink or lilac-lilac shaved, low white and purple bells.

For the cultivation of forget-me-nots, see the following video.