Remember the forget-me-nots
For a true declaration of undying love this Valentine’s Day...
SYMBOLISING true love, faithfulness and remembrance, forgetme-nots are the perfect plants for those who want to make their feelings known on Valentine’s Day (hint: it’s tomorrow!). In my opinion, these early bloomers have the edge over a box of chocs or bunch of roses as a longer-lasting sign of your affection.
The forget-me-not associated with romance is Myosotis sylvatica, a biennial with 8in-tall sprays of tiny blue flowers in spring and early summer. However, its common name is shared by several other closely related plants, such as perennial forget-me-not (brunnera) and creeping forget-me-not (omphalodes).
Of course, getting hold of something before the big day might prove tricky. Not all garden centres will offer much of a range or even have any in stock.
If that’s the case, order a readygrown plant online, or snap up some seeds for sowing in spring, and treat someone special to a surprise pressie once they arrive.
Classic forget-me-nots, along with its various namesakes, are all part of the borage (boraginaceae) plant family. Plants in the clan tend to form clumps of hairy leaves and
Drowning knight who helped give them their name
are topped by equally bristly stalks that carry tiny, five petalled flowers. The yellow-eyed blooms come in shades of blue, white and pink.
Native to Europe, Asia and the Americas, the various forget-menots can be found in a range of habitats. A species known as alpine forget-me-not (Myosotis alpestris) thrives in mountains and was the floral symbol for the old English county of Westmorland. It has been the official state flower of Alaska since 1949.
Due to their wide geographical distribution, these flowers have a place in the history of many countries. The bloom was chosen as the emblem of Henry IV in the 14th Century, and during the 1930s, German freemasons facing persecution by the Nazis, wore a sprig of forget-me-nots to secretly identify each other.
The Victorians were a romantic lot, inventing something called the language of flowers. Everyday blooms had a meaning and were used to pass on covert messages in an age when the chaperone system was in place. If someone gave a potential suitor some forget-me-nots, it signified true, undying love.
As for their name, my favourite explanation can be found in a poem from 1891 by William Topaz McGonagall. It tells the story of a knight who swims across a river to pick flowers for his sweetheart. On the way back, he struggles in the water and throws the flowers on to the bank. Before drowning, he wails: ‘Forget-me-not!’
Back in the garden, all types of forget-me-nots tend to prefer cool, damp and slightly shaded conditions. Brunneras are great at the front of beds and borders, planted alongside paths or set beneath trees. The different varieties of omphalodes make great companions for ferns, pulmonarias and other woodlanders.
Biennial forget-me-nots are ideal partners for spring bulbs and perennials. If you can’t find young plants, sow seeds directly into the soil in April. Make a series of furrows – ¼in deep, 12in apart – and sprinkle seeds thinly along the base of each. Cover and water. Thin seedlings to 6in apart. Plants will flower the following spring.
One desirable species that I haven’t mentioned yet is the Chatham Island forget-me-not (Myosotidium hortensia), an evergreen with large, ribbed leaves and 18in-tall sprays of blue flowers. It’s borderline hardy but notoriously temperamental, so confine to a container and place somewhere frost-free over winter.