The Chatham Island forget-me-not, Myosotidium hortensia, has flowers of a most beautiful shade of blue, on strong stems which rise above the glossy leaves. Amazing as the flowers are, it’s the foliage which makes this plant truly spectacular. If it has light shade, lots and lots of compost or a naturally moist, rich soil, the leaves of the Chatham Island forget-me-not will be very big, very glossy, wonderfully ribbed and quite spectacular. Although this plant isn’t always long-lived, if you get plants growing well they will flower and set seed profusely, little seedlings popping up around the parent plants freely.
The Chatham Island forget-me-not does very well in containers during its first year, providing of course it is kept in a shady spot. Frequent watering is essential, as is a quality potting mix. In the garden, try mixing the Chatham Island forget-me-not with ferns such as Asplenium bulbiferum, hostas, ligularias, hellebores, or variegated, slender leafed grasses such as Acorus, Carex ‘Evergold’ or the bright gold, deciduous Japanese grass Hakonechloa macra ‘Aureola’. Surrounding one or several Chatham Island forget-me-nots with moisture and shade loving annuals such as showy mimulus or impatiens makes a most pleasing garden picture too.
One of the most memorable combinations we have seen with this plant was at Larnach Castle in Dunedin, where one spring the China blue flowers of Chatham Island forget-me nots mingled with the lime-yellow flowers heads of the low growing perennial Euphorbia polychroma.
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Schemes & Themes
using Liddle Wonder Plants