COMMON HARDY FLOWERS. 



61 



is a superior and more azure-coloured variety of this 

 (Species {M. Azorica ccelestina), in ■which, nearly all the 

 flowers are hlue. 



M. Imperatrice Elisabeth, a fine, robust, high- 

 coloured variety, is said to be a hybrid between the 

 fine species from the Azores and the Eock Forget- 

 me-not of Scotland (M. alpestris). The Wood Forget- 

 me-not [M. sylvatica, or sylvestris) is also among the 

 most useful plants for beds and borders ; and there is 

 a pure white variety of this which is very useful. 



The best of aU the Forget-me-nots for the garden 

 still, however, remains to be noticed ; this is Myosotia 

 dissitiflora, closely related to, it not identical with, 

 the M. montana. Its name is derived from the loose- 

 ness of the flowers on the stems, and their distance 

 from each other, which gives more room for their 

 individual expansion ; and hence this is at once the 

 largest-flowering and the most beautiful of aJl the 

 Forget-me-nots. In the early season, when the 

 ■cold nipping March winds are about, the flowers 

 of this fine species are very much suffused with 

 rose ; but as the season advances this changes, and 

 all the flowers become of the softest shade of blue. 

 There is a larger variety of this species, and also 

 a, pure white variety. The larger, or major sort, 

 is almost double the size of the common strain, and 

 hardly stands the weather so well on tha,t account. 

 This is one of the earliest and best of all the 

 Forget-me-nots ; iu fact, it is so pre-eminently good 

 that in not a few gardens it has superseded all others, 

 and is grovni by thousands and tens of thousands for 

 spring gardening. In mild seasons it flowers with 

 the Fair Maids of February, the Snowdrops, at that 

 early season. In most it flowers through March, 

 April, and May, and with a little care as to time of 

 sowing and propagation, this lovely Forget-me-not 

 may be had in flower nearly all the year round. 



Cultwre. — The species and varieties here specified 

 are perfectly hardy, though it is found that young 

 and rather small plants stand severe weather much 

 better than larger ones. The reason seems to be 

 that the Forget-me-nots suffer more from wet on 

 their crowns than from cold. The large plants 

 allow the wet to accumulate and remain, and the 

 frost bites them hard in consequence. Some also 

 contend that seedlings are more hardy than plants 

 raised from root-division or cuttings ; but this is 

 hardly likely; however, as most of the MyosoHs, 

 and especially the dissitiflora, come quite true from 

 seed, it is just as well to increase and multiply it 

 in this way. Sow it in June or July in a shel- 

 tered, shady border ; before winter the plants will 

 have reached a nice size for flowering next spring. 

 As the seeds of all the Forget-me-nots are excep- 

 tionally small, it is impossible to sow them too 

 thinly or cover them too lightly. The soil should 



also be light and rich, though almost any soU will do 

 for these Forget-me-nots, provided it is neither too 

 stifi nor too di-y. 



When once grown in any garden, the Forget-me- 

 nots are almost sure to reproduce themselves from 

 seed with sufiicient freedom to render unnecessary 

 any systematic saving of the seeds. Chance seedlings 

 will not only abound, but they will generally prove 

 more robust than any other. 



Another very simple way of iucreasing Forget-me- 

 nots is to pull the plants to pieces immediately after 

 flowering, and plant each little branchlet that has a 

 rootlet as an independent plant. If this is done 

 carefully, the plants placed iu fairly good soU, and 

 not allowed to get dry during the season, they wiU 

 bear a second division of stools by about the end of 

 September, and then have grown into nice flowering 

 tufts before the end of the flowering season. Moist 

 and partially shaded beds or borders are best for aU 

 the Forget-me-nots, though several species grow en 

 mountains, and others of the more dwarf species seem 

 to live on, almost barren rocks ; yet the' roots find 

 moisture in the crevices, and no Forget-me-nots 

 in gardens should be allowed to become once really 

 dry, or to flag in the least from drought. 



But the fact is, these plants are so easily grown 

 and propagated that no small garden should be with- 

 out them. The common treatment of the most 

 common flowers wiU suit these admirably, or if a 

 place with rather more shade and moisture than 

 another can be found, plant these full of Forget-me- 

 nots. Unless the seeds sow themselves, scatter a few 

 over beds and borders at times, and simply and very 

 slightly rake them in ; also now and then, and at any 

 dripping time during the season, lift, divide, and re- 

 plant a few Forget-me-nots, and by ' such simple 

 means provide a constant succession of their lovely 

 flowers in the .garden. 



Forget-me-nots look well among ferns, and on 

 rookeries among Alpine plants. Some of the species, 

 such as alpestris, azorica, and dissitiflora, do remark- 

 ably well clothing crumbling walls and climbing 

 ruins, the plants seeding themselves, and also agree- 

 ing well with the common yellow single Wallflowers, 

 and the beat of all creeping plants for such positions 

 — Linaria Cymbalaria. Forget-me-nots, especially the 

 M. dissitiflora, also flower admirably in pots. Place 

 a nice bushy plant in a sunny window in January ; it 

 wiU be in bloom in February, and keep on bloom- 

 ing right up to May, provided always it is care- 

 fully watered and liberally fed. By potting up at 

 intervals of a month or so a few plants of the lovely 

 Forget-me-nots, and placing them in the windows, 

 the rooms would be lightened up with their unique 

 beauty, and the dwellers in the house be brightened 

 and cheered by their presence throughout the year. 



