PlantFiles: Summer Forget-Me-Not
Anchusa capensis

Annual, but reseeds easily. Found mine has two colors - blue and pink. Looks good when planted in a clump. Consider deadheading to prevent too many off-sping the following year or don't plant in an area where you can't easily maintain the bed or where you walk though regularly - the seeds will stick to your clothes. It is an easy plant to grow.

This anchusa is from South-African (Cape) origine..here the plants grow during the wet winters and flower in late spring and early summer. It is a tender biennial, grown as an annual. Sow seeds at 15 - 20 C in light.

Anchusa capensis is a vigorous herb with tall stems of blue flowers shooting up from clumps of bright green leaves. The long narrow leaves are soft, but rough and hairy when touched.

On sunny days the bees love visiting the flowers. The seeds develop inside little green cups, which are formed by the 5 sepals that have united. Inside each cup three seeds or little nuts turn hard and black as they ripen, usually about a month after flowering. Every plant produces hundreds of seeds.

In the garden Anchusa capensis is a very easy plant adapting to most soils, surviving on very little water and seeding itself readily. The basic requirements are full sun and well-drained soil.