Cynoglossum Mystery Rose

A dusty, smoky pink with the quality of faded velvet, carried in tall branching sprays of small forget-me-not flowers up to 70cm. It is the pink form of the Chinese forget-me-not, and far less often seen than the bright blue.

Its job in a bouquet is to blend. Some flowers are soloists and some are the thing that makes the soloists work, and this is firmly the second. The smoky tone sits happily beside bright primaries and soft pastels alike, which is rare, and it fills out an arrangement without competing for attention.

It is not a spring bedding forget-me-not and should not be treated as one. This is a proper tall annual bred for cutting, and unusually cold-tolerant for an annual, so an autumn sowing will overwinter and give considerably stronger, earlier plants than a spring one. The foliage is rough and hairy, as it is throughout the borage family, and the colour is muted enough that some people read it as dirty rather than antique. Look at it in the flesh before committing a whole bed. Bees are entirely convinced.