A dense patch of Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden's Forget-me-not Blue flowers blooms beneath leafy trees in a sunlit garden, with more blossoms and green grass stretching into the background.
A dense patch of Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden's Forget-me-not Blue flowers blooms beneath leafy trees in a sunlit garden, with more blossoms and green grass stretching into the background.A dense patch of Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden Forget-me-not Blue, with blooming blue flowers and green stems and leaves, creates a vibrant, colorful display in any garden setting.Clusters of Forget-me-not Blue flowers by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden bloom through weathered wooden planks, with green foliage beneath.A yellow circular logo with a black and white bee, reading “RHS PLANTS FOR POLLINATORS,” highlights favorites like Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden Forget-me-not Blue seeds.Close-up of Forget-me-not Blue by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden, featuring blue flowers with yellow centers blooming before a tree trunk and lush green foliage.A dense patch of Forget-me-not Blue by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden grows under leafing trees in a sunlit garden, with green grass and more trees visible in the softly blurred background.Forget-me-not Blue by Bishy Barnabees Cottage Garden features vibrant blue flowers with yellow centers and green leaves, blooming in sunlight with a tree trunk and blurred garden greenery behind.
Biennial Pollinator

Forget-me-not Blue

Myosotis sylvatica — woodland forget-me-not; forget-me-not blue

£2.20approx. 500 seeds

A nostalgic spring carpet of intense clear blue with yellow eyes — the classic English Forget-me-not for cottage borders, woodland edges, and tulip underplanting.

Sowing months
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Height
20–30cm
Spread
20cm
Spacing
20cm
Position
Sun to deep shade
Soil
Moist, humus-rich soil
Grow guide
How to grow Forget-me-not Blue
Read the full guide →
About this variety

Clouds of tiny five-petalled flowers in a clear saturated blue, each with a small yellow eye, carpeting shady corners from April through June at 20 to 30cm. Under tulips it is such a standard pairing that it has become a cliché, and like most garden clichés it got there by being right.

It is a biennial. Sown from May to July it makes a low rosette through summer and autumn, sits out the winter without protection, flowers the following spring, sets seed and dies. It drops hundreds of seeds while it does it, so a garden that has forget-me-nots once tends to have them permanently. That is really the whole management question with this plant. You are not deciding whether to grow it, you are deciding whether to let it stay.

Be ready for how it finishes. By late June the plants are mildewed, grey and thoroughly unattractive, and they want pulling out and composting rather than leaving to look at. Pull them before the seed is fully shed if you want fewer next year, and after, if you want more. It is one of the earliest food sources for solitary bees, which is worth something in April.

Plant alongside

Forget-me-not Blue pairs beautifully with these cottage garden classics

Forget-me-not White
Forget-me-not White
£2.20
Aquilegia Columbine Blue
Aquilegia Columbine Blue
£2.55
Aquilegia Barlow Mixed
Aquilegia Barlow Mixed
£2.10

RHS Plants for Pollinators

This plant has been assessed by the Royal Horticultural Society and recommended as especially beneficial to bees, butterflies and other pollinators. Growing plants like this directly supports UK pollinator populations — something close to our hearts at Salle Moor Hall Farm, where we see the difference a cottage garden full of the right plants can make.

Learn more at RHS.org.uk →