PlantFiles: Chinese Forget-Me-Not
Cynoglossum amabile

We have a rock outcropping behind our house with very thin soil which has been a challenge to landscape. It gets a bit more than part sun. It is so steep that soil washes away. My husband brought home some seeds for this plant from Home Depot last spring and threw them on the outcropping without telling me.

We ended up with many beautiful drifts of bright blue flowers that grew in little soil pockets and flowered from August through October. They looked entirely natural in the rocky setting. They did eventually turn into tiny burrs which was not a problem where they were growing as it is almost horizontal!

I'm curious to see what we'll get this year. Probably not much as the seeds would have gone down the rock face.

A great plant for a rocky cliff like setting with thin soil.

These are very pretty, and will self-seed themselves freely. It wouldn't have been a problem, but for the fact that the seeds are like "beggar's lice" that stick to pants, socks, shoestrings . . . anything they can get a hold of. I got rid of the plant for that reason.

I was amazed at the brilliance of the tiny blue flowers; you can see them from 30 foot away. The group of four seeds (visable in the picture I posted) are a clingy and the plant makes loads of them to share.

I admired this plant in a friend's garden. She pulled 3 out wrapped them in wet paper towel and gave them to me. All 3 survived, and flowered for many months. The colour is lovely. The seeds are hooked and even harder to disentangle than ordinary forget-me-nots. I let them self seed but keep them away from pets areas. They'll require cutting to get them out of fur.

A profusion of tiny, azure-blue flowers cover the plant in spring. Will self-seed readily if not deadheaded. Plant in average, well-drained garden soil; provide adequate moisture. Successive plantings will ensure season-long color.

Should not be confused with the perennial or biennial Myosotis sylvatica, (also commonly called Forget-Me-Not)