When to plant Forget Me Not in Cool Australia

Cool zone — applies to Hobart, Canberra, Ballarat, Orange, Armidale and similar areas. Growing elsewhere? Temperate · Subtropical · Tropical · Arid.

Sow forget-me-nots direct from January to April or in December, so they establish in the cooling soil and flower the following spring. This hardy little biennial loves the cold, making it right at home around Hobart, Ballarat and Orange. Cover the seed lightly at about 3 mm and keep it moist; germination follows in 7–14 days. Thin seedlings to 30 cm apart with rows 15–20 cm apart, letting them knit into a soft blue carpet. From an autumn sowing you can expect flowers in roughly 80–90 days of active growth, timed to open in the cool of early spring beneath bulbs and blossom trees.

Sowing calendar — cool zone

Green months are your sowing window: December to April.

Growing notes

Forget-me-nots are made for cool climates. They germinate and grow through the cooler months and resent summer heat, so the late-summer-to-autumn window suits them far better than spring sowing in warm districts. In frosty gardens around Canberra and Armidale they overwinter as low rosettes and burst into flower as the days lengthen.

Give them dappled shade or morning sun and moisture-retentive soil; a spot under deciduous trees is ideal, where they finish flowering before the canopy closes over. The most common failure is letting the seedbed dry out during the 7–14 day germination, which gives ragged, gappy stands. Keep the surface damp and shaded until they are up.

Their second habit to watch is enthusiasm: forget-me-nots self-sow prolifically and can carpet a bed within a couple of seasons. That is charming under roses but a weed elsewhere, so pull or shear plants before the sticky seed sets if you want to contain them. Powdery mildew often coats plants late in the season as they tire; by then they have usually finished, so simply clear the spent growth and let the self-sown seedlings take over.

Forget Me Not at a glance

Common questions

When should I sow forget-me-nots in Hobart?

Sow direct from January to April or in December, so they establish over autumn and flower in early spring. Hobart's cool, frosty conditions suit them perfectly.

Do forget-me-nots come back each year?

They are biennials but self-sow so freely that a patch effectively returns every year. Let some seed drop and you rarely need to sow again.

Why did my forget-me-not seed germinate patchily?

The seedbed most likely dried out during the 7–14 day germination window. Keep the surface consistently moist and lightly shaded until seedlings appear.

Can forget-me-nots grow in shade?

Yes, they prefer dappled shade or morning sun and moist soil, thriving under deciduous trees. They finish flowering before the summer canopy closes over.

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