Growing forest forget-me-not

Forest forget-me-not is a plant that, despite its name, is excellent for growing at home. This grassy, ​​small flower is not only an excellent component of the design of your flower ensembles. It can also be used for medicinal purposes. This article is devoted to the description of forget-me-not, its cultivation and features of care for it.

Botanical description

Forget-me-not forest is a short two or three year old herb that belongs to the Burachnik family. The height of the flower is up to 40 cm. The stem is branching, expanding, covered with hairs.

Bottom leaves are petiolate, oval-shaped, and those that are located on the stems are oblong-lanceolate, framed by a large number of villi.

The flowers have a diameter of up to 1 cm, as a rule, of a blue shade, they are gathered in inflorescences, curls, 4-5 pieces each. The fruit is a peaked black nut. As the name implies, this flower prefers woodland for its growth. It can often be found in the forests of Central Europe and the Carpathians.

However, breeders were able to adapt forest forget-me-not to growing at home and created many different varieties of this plant.

Choosing a place in the garden

When choosing a place for growing this flower in your garden, it is worth remembering where forget-me-nots grow in the wild. Recall the forest glades in which you may have met with this flower, and try to reproduce approximately all the conditions of those flowers.

Location

Forget-me-not prefers shady sites of the soil. It is in half-shady and shady areas that it can bloom from the last decade of May for 40-45 days. Of course, it is not forbidden to plant it in well-sanctified areas, but then the flowering time will be reduced to 20 days. This flower endures windy weather due to the morphological features of its structure. Therefore, you can, without fear, plant it in well-blown areas with drafts.

The soil

The soil for forget-me-not should be well hydrated. Perfect plot located near the reservoir. It is advisable to plant on the rich in vitamins, moderately fertilized soil.

It will be useful to provide good drainage at the site of future planting, because forget-me-not even loves water, but its excess can lead to rotting of the roots of the plant and pulling its stems.

Loamy and sandy soils are very bad for growing this plant. because the root system of this flower is not suitable for existence in such conditions. In addition, such soils retain very poor moisture, which is critical for normal growth and development of forget-me-not.

Planting forget-me-not seeds

Forget-me-nots are flowers that can be propagated in a vegetative way, but flower growers give priority to the use of the sowing method. It is necessary to make sowing in the fall, so that from spring forget-me-nots could already bloom.

Seeds before sowing are placed in a saline water solution. Those that drown - are selected for planting.

Sow the seeds directly into the open ground, lightly sprinkled on top of the fertile soil. On top of the soil, paper is laid before the period of appearance of the first shoots, which often occurs a week after sowing.

After the appearance of the first true leaves, young shoots are transferred to containers with soil. The distance between them should not be less than 3 cm. Further containers with soil should be transferred to a cold greenhouse before the onset of the spring period.

From the beginning of March, seedlings are moved to a warm room, in order to completely move away from the winter dormancy period.

The landing on the places of further growth is made at the end of April, during this period small buds can already be formed on young plants.

Transplantation must be accompanied by fertilizing, which may include potassium chloride, ammonium nitrate and superphosphate in a ratio of 3: 2: 1, or, for example, 1:10 mullein solution.

Peculiarities of care

Forget-me-not does not require particularly scrupulous care. Remember to make frequent moderate watering, but do not overdo it, because excessively moist soil can cause irreparable harm to the health of the plant. When watering is recommended to direct the stream as low as possible to the ground.

The plant requires systematic feeding. Various solutions of mineral fertilizers are good for this purpose, but organic compounds are equally well suited.

The first light dressing should be made 14-15 days after planting, preferably before the beginning of the flowering period. In the spring, a 3-5 cm layer consisting of a mixture of peat and compost is poured under the root of the plant.

Sometimes, if the bed with the forget-me-not has grown too thick, it is possible to carry out preventive cutting of some part of the stems. This will allow the plant to extend the flowering period and will provide an opportunity to develop young stems.

Possible diseases and pests

Among diseasesaffecting this flower, there are brown and gray rot, false and powdery mildew.

These diseases should be treated with the timely removal of all diseased leaves, stems and flowers, as well as treatment with solutions of various fungicides, such as, for example, a 0.2% base solution or 0.1% Topsin-M.

It is also suitable soap-copper solution, which includes a 2% solution of laundry soap and 0.2% solution - copper sulfate.

Of pestsaffecting a given flower, it is worth highlighting aphid, slugs and scoop. If you notice that your forget-me-nots have been attacked by some kind of insect, you should immediately spray the flowers with insecticide solutions, which the modern market offers a huge amount of.

Medicinal properties

For medicinal purposes, you can use the entire ground part of the plant: the stems, flowers and leaves. It is recommended to collect forget-me-not during the flowering period.

After harvesting, the grass is spread in a warm, dry place and dried. It is used, as a rule, in the form of teas, decoctions and tinctures.

Folk medicine claims that forget-me-not effectively helps with coughing, toothache, chronic bronchitis, pulmonary and intestinal tuberculosis, and various types of hemoptysis.

External use of this plant is recommended for skin rashes, dry eczema, eye diseases, snake and scorpion bites. Cultivating forest forget-me-not is a rather fascinating process with a huge emotional impact. During the flowering period, this plant will give you a lot of pleasant impressions, delighting with its magnificent appearance and excellent aroma.