2S6 ALPINE FLOWERS. Part II- 



MYOSOTIS PALUSTEIS. — Water Forget-me-not. 



To remind even those who are least observant of our wild flowers 

 of the beauty of the Water Forget-me-not by our streams, canals, 

 &c. would be wasting words ; but I may advocate its cultivation 

 as a garden-plant. It may be grown easily anywhere by the side 

 of a stream, or pond, or moist place, where it does not already exist 

 in a wild state, by merely pricking in bits of the shoots and after- 

 wards leaving them to nature ; and perhaps this is the best way in 

 most places, particularly where the ordinary soil is warm and dry. 

 But in many districts the climate and soil are moist and con- 

 genial enough to grow it well away from the water, and in such 

 it is often desirable to have a httle bed or two of a plant so great 

 a favourite with all, and so useful for minghng with more showy 

 flowers indoors. I have never seen the flowers so large as 

 among Rhododendrons growing in beds of moist peat, the moist 

 peat and shade just suiting it. It thrives, however, in ordinary 

 soil in many gardens, as at Trentham, where it is used as an 

 edging round the children's gardens. Grows as far north as the 

 "Arctic Circle, and is a native of North America aS well as of 

 Europe and Asia. 



MYOSOTIS SYLVATICA.— Wood Forgk-me-nof. 



A NATIVE of woods, mountain pastures, and shady situations in 

 the North of Europe and Asia, and in the great central chain 

 from the Pyrenees to the Caucasus, and also a British plant, 

 though rare, limited to Scotland and the North of England. 

 Met with in the woods in early summer, a mass of blue, it is one 

 of the most charming sights afforded by any plant. It has been 

 extensively grown in spring flower gardens during the past few 

 years, and is the best blue flower vised therein. In a wild state 

 it is said to be perennial, but in gardens usually proves a bien- 

 nial, and should be sown every year in early summer, putting the 

 plants into the beds in autumn as soon as the summer flowers are 

 gone. A few years ago it was generally grown and known as 

 M. arvensis, a worthless weed, and may yet be known by that 

 name in gardens. A good plan with this plant is to scatter some 

 of the seeds in the woods and half wild places, or even to put out 

 young plants in the autumn. There is a white variety, which is 

 not so pretty as the blue, but which is yet worth growing where 

 much variety is sought. 



