Chinese Forget-Me-Nots (Cynoglossum)

Are these considered invasive? I think they might be and I just wintered sowed a bunch. Any tricks for containing them or should I just get rid of them now?

It has been my experience they are definitely pot and fence jumpers. I am not aware of any way to contain them save planting them underneath the equivalent of a vented plexiglass cloche. I've seen bamboo contained by the equivalent of miniature sheet piling and I've seen Lily of the Valley contained by basic sidewalks but Forget-Me-Nots are a lot like Dame's Rocket and Shasta Daisies in that they go where they want when they want. Even if you deadhead them, they always seem to find a way to sneak out and do as they please.

Is there someplace for a person like me to go and see if a plant is invasive or not? It's not always clear when reading a seed package and I don't think self-sow necessarilly means invasive; or does it?

Winter sowing has spurred me on to try a lot of plants I normally would never attempt. Why, I don't know. Maybe it's a time factor thing. But I certainly don't want to cause a problem for myself or my neighbors. I just accidentally ran across a blurb about the FMNs that made me wonder about invasiveness. I'm beginning to undestand that I'm going to have to do more research before planting seeds willy-nilly.

Self-sow is not necessarily a bad thing unless other factors are also present. It's the total "package" you have to look at.

I have a big problem with Utricularia. I keep receiving it as a hitch hiker in plants I purchase. Very little information out there on this species yet virtually everyone who grows them or receives them as "gifts" has nothing but problems with them. I suspect that if they were "popular" there would be information out there.

Come on down and visit me ;) You can stay with me and I can take you to properties owned by The Nature Conservancy as well as public parks and preserves in both Illinois and Wisconsin and you can get a look at all the pot and fence jumpers. It's rather shocking once you begin to look around. It never ceases to amaze me around here how it seems to be that the major offenders are the same 30-40 plants. I recall seeing English Ivy and Lily of the Valley overtaking areas and was quite shocked to learn those particular plants were such problem children. There were others such as Dame's Rocket, Shasta Daisy, Baby's Breath, and Queen Anne's Lace that I had been conditioned to believe were indigenous to this continent and assumed they "belonged". Again, I think you will be finding that there are only about 30-40 plants that are the worst offenders.

Winter sowing did the same thing to me. I found the best way for me to research was to always get the Latin name of the plant. This time you just go with Myosotis scorpioides as that appears to be quite popular. Type that in to this website-
http://plants.usda.gov/index.html

Here's the direct link to the plant-
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=MYSC
This link is to the USDA site which lists the plant as introduced and shows that the plant has naturalized in well over 40 States and if you scroll down at this site, you will also see that the plant is listed as a noxious weed as well as invasive. If a plant is listed at this site as being invasive or noxious, chances are you might not want to plant it.

What you will find is that there are quite a few naturalized species of Chinese Forget-Me-Nots being marketed and that they are pretty much all a problem child-
M. arvensis
M. azorica
M. discolor
M. latifolia
M. scorpiodes
M. stricta

Now try a search engine like Google and type the Latin name of the plant and add the word Invasive. Generally within the first 10-15 links, you can get a pretty good idea of what you are dealing with. Skip links that are obviously nurseries selling the plants.

I just did it for you Forget-Me-Nots -
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sa=X&oi=spell&resnum=0&ct=result&cd=1&q=myosotis+scorpioides+invasive&spell=1
Not good as normally one will find entries that claim a plant is not invasive and it appeared to me that every entry was not favorable.

I'm beginning to become familiar with the species that are really nasty around me because of searching and reading. It takes a little bit of time to do it in the beginning but once you do it a few times, you begin to know what to look for at a link.

Thanks so much for all the info, Equilibrium. I'm certainly going to be more careful from now on.

I had a few people show me how to do it way back when the Internet was all new. There were so few sites and now there's a veritable plethora of information available without even having to go to the library. The Internet has actually become indispensable to me as a tool. I can get information within about 10-15 minutes that would have taken me literally hours at a library providing the books were not out on loan or unavailable without filling out an inter library requisition form that meant I'd usually end up waiting a month for a publication.

Most of the plants that I grow will do just fine in Minnesota. Please take a look at some of the seeds and plants I have given away over in the Upper Midwest Gardening Forums and if there is anything you might be interested in, let me know and it will be yours for winter sowing when I go to collect seed again this coming fall. I'm pretty good about not forgetting who wants what also. Not all of the plants are natives though. I also end up with extra trees and shrubs and can bareroot those and send them out to you to. I think I'll end up with extra Oaks, Viburnum, and Ilex this year for sure and probably a few more but who knows what they will be. Just D-Mail me if you are interested. There’s also a man out there named leftwood over in the Trees Forum who would share with you and he’s from your area.

Leftwood has already invited me to some plant swap he is having in June and I'm thinking about going. Maybe I should have saved the FMNs (LOL). I don't have much space here, so I concentrate mostly on perennials plants and lilies. I have been thinking about a Witch Hazel. I don't want to put anything in that will take away what little sun I do get.

I'm not even sure what all does well for winter sowing in my area, but I'll certainly take a look at what you have. Gee, you sure do get overwhelmed with seeds real quick. I can't believe how many I have already;especially Morning Glory seeds. Yikes, I've got those almost coming out my ears. I sent a bunch out to some guy in New York who's just tickled they have already all germanated. I was happy to get rid of them.

Thanks so much for all your kind offers. I will be getting back to you on seeds.

You're welcome.

Which Witch Hazel were you interested in?

Leftwood is a real honey. Any plant swap he recommends will be great.

Well, I guess he is hosting it at his place. Not sure what I'll have to trade, but I'm sure I can come up with a few items. He's also very much into lilies and I'd love to see what he has. There's a few of us locals planning to meet at the Friends School plant sale in May and go out for lunch afterwards. Leftwood has requested Oriental and Zenpotter has selected a restaurant. I have to laugh. I have a cat named Lefty and I keep wanting to call Leftwood that.

I haven't really looked into Witch Hazels yet. I've seen a few pictures and my impression is that a lot of light would still come through them even during the summer. That's why I've been toying with the idea. I haven't seen any around town and I think I would have noticed. I wonder if they would do OK up here.

You wouldn't happen to know where I could find seeds or plants for Viola Delta Pure Red would you? Probably another invasive seeing as I would like to have a few. Anyway, gots to go to bed now. The electric company is coming tomorrow to drop a line so I can trim a tree that's growing into my electrical line. Need to be bright eyed and bushy tailed for that. Have a nice Easter weekend.

Pat

Hi Pat,

Lefty, eh? Don't worry if you slip up and call him Lefty because he has a good sense of humor. Have fun at the Friend's School Plant Sale. Adding lunch to the day sound nice.

I used to get scores of catalogs and I would create lists of lists of lists of plants that I wanted based on the photos that screamed out to me to buy them. Needless to say I created a lot of work for myself because many nurseries pump the same plants over and over and over again and I wanted them ALL. I'm too lazy to deal with those types of plants any longer.

I don't know about Viola 'Delta Pure Red'. It might very well be a cultivar of a native species. I have a few Viola over here but mine are natives and the seed came from local people who had pristine properties. Violas/Pansies are said by many to be "weedy" but I haven't had issues with them. Now I have seen areas where they are weedy but those were down in southern States and when I saw them it wasn't as if they were forming monocultures to the exclusion of other species.

Try Hamamelis virginiana. That is the Latin name for Common Witch Hazel which is a very nice "airy" plant that has dainty yellow blossoms in spring and it should do quite well for you where you live. D-Mail Rick and chances are good he will know a local nursery that sells stock grown up north or an online nursery that grows their stock locally which would mean it would be more likely to survive after you plant it than say a Hamamelis virginiana grown in Kentucky and shipped up to Minnesota to be sold.

Have fun babysitting the electric company so they don't trash your plants running line. I'm sending out some plants and cleaning out another pond tomorrow. Oh what fun, I so love string algae left over from last season. For some reason last year I got string algae. I hate that stuff.

Lauren

Your 'Delta Pure Red' is a cultivar of a plant that is indigenous to North America. Not a native to your region but I don't see that as a big deal. It is a real pretty plant because I found a photo of it on the net. It's full Latin name is Viola × wittrockiana 'Delta Pure Red'

Here's a link to-
http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=VIWI

There are a few other Pansies that have that rich blood red color that I ran across that you might like equally as well and they might be readily available.

I buy Pansies in flats from a local nursery so I have no idea where you'd get your plant but there is a new member here who grows them professionally and I bet she'd be able to track them down for you. Her user name is tigerlily123. She's a wholesaler and she's sold out for the season but she seems sincerely helpful and I'm relatively confident she'd try to help you find them.

Happy Easter to you too!

Lauren