When to plant Forget Me Not in Arid Australia

Arid zone — applies to Alice Springs, Mildura, Broken Hill, Kalgoorlie, Port Augusta and similar areas. Growing elsewhere? Temperate · Cool · Subtropical · Tropical.

Sow forget-me-nots direct from March through August, spanning the cool inland autumn and winter when the desert climate is at its gentlest. This hardy flower prefers mild conditions, so the cooler months are your window before the searing summer arrives. Sow the seed about 3 mm deep, where it germinates in 7–14 days, and thin seedlings to 30 cm apart in rows 15–20 cm wide. Expect a low haze of blue in around 80–90 days. In Mildura and Broken Hill, a partly shaded, moisture-retentive spot gives these woodland natives the cool root run they miss in open desert beds.

Sowing calendar — arid zone

Green months are your sowing window: March to August.

Growing notes

Forget-me-nots are woodland plants at heart, which makes the arid zone their least natural home, but the autumn-to-winter window makes them workable. The single biggest failure mode is heat and light stress: planted in full inland sun they scorch, wilt by mid-morning and finish flowering early. Choose the coolest, most sheltered corner you have, ideally with morning sun and afternoon shade, and mulch well to keep the roots cool and damp.

The second problem is moisture. These plants want steady, even soil moisture and will collapse if the bed swings dry in the low desert humidity. Water consistently and enrich the bed with compost so it holds water longer between soaks.

Good airflow matters too. In still conditions the soft foliage is prone to powdery mildew, so space plants properly and avoid overhead watering late in the day. Get the timing right, finishing the flowering before summer heat builds, and you will be rewarded with self-sown seedlings the following autumn, since forget-me-nots naturalise readily wherever they are comfortable. Treat any surviving plants as an annual display rather than a long-lived perennial in this climate.

Forget Me Not at a glance

Common questions

Can you grow forget-me-nots in a hot dry climate?

Yes, but only through the cool months and in a sheltered, shaded spot. Sow from March to August so flowering finishes before the extreme summer heat, and mulch well to keep the roots cool and moist.

Where should I plant forget-me-nots in an arid garden?

Choose the coolest corner with morning sun and afternoon shade, and enrich the soil with compost to hold moisture. Open, full-sun desert beds scorch the soft foliage and cut the display short.

How long do forget-me-nots take to flower?

From sowing they reach flowering in around 80–90 days. Seed sown in autumn will typically bloom through the cooler part of the season before summer arrives.

Do forget-me-nots self-seed?

They naturalise readily wherever they are comfortable, dropping seed that germinates the following autumn. Let a few plants set seed if you want them to return without resowing.

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