I'm a long way from Australia, but I have grown lisianthus from seed, and they do, indeed, grow VERY, VERY slowly. I started seeds indoors under lights in January, which was obviously not early enough. Planted outdoors in early June, they only started to bud up in early October and no flowers had opened by the time frost hit a couple of weeks later. I knew they didn't have a prayer of surviving a Minnesota winter, so I potted three of them up and overwintered them in a sunny west window. It wasn't easy, they looked awful, but perked up in spring. I planted them outdoors around June 1 and they were in bloom by early July and were quite spectacular the rest of the growing season. Since then I've bought plants. For me they grow best in rich, moist but well-drained soil and benefit from a bit of shade during the hottest part of the day. The ones I planted in sandy, poorer soil never did much in terms of growth or blooms. I fed mine with an extended release fertilizer with a high middle number. I think in very mild (no frosts/light frost) areas they might be perennials. They are bred, I believe, from a native perennial Colorado wildflower, so I think your cool nights should be very good for them. I hope others with a climate more similar to yours offer you information/advice. Good luck! Kate

Two species that should be in Colorado, and have blue flowers with phyllaries mostly appressed, are Symphyotrichum drummondii, and Symphyotrichum laeve.

OakIris, I have plants coming out the kazoo this year and was planning to pot some of them up to bring to the swap after I got home from my trip, but since I'll be out of town until after the swap this time, that won't be happening. But, I did just look and in 2012 I actually took the time to collect some seed, and I'll do my best to remember to send a little packet of them along with Barb for you. When you get them I need to warn you that most of what you see in the baggie will be chaff! The actual seeds are the hard little black things!!! When I collected them there were a whole lot of them that had gone to seed, so I just cut the whole plants off at the bottom and stuck them in a bag and left them sit to dry completely for a month or two. When I got around to it I just SHOOK the bag really well, and since everything was SO dry, a lot of "plant debris" came off along with the seeds! What I recommend you do with them is to wait till late summer or early fall, then "rough up" the soil in a couple small places, take a BIG pinch of "seeds" (the stuff in the baggie!) and scatter it in each of the places you've "roughed up." Then rub your hand over the soil where you scattered the seeds to "mix them in" just a little bit, and then clearly mark where you planted them 'cause they kind of look like weeds when they first come up and otherwise you might decide to pull them out when you see them and then think the seed I gave you was no good!!! ;-) Depending on the weather, some of them will probably come up before winter gets really cold, and then more will come up in spring. Any that come up will bloom next summer! And once you get a couple that bloom--you'll never get rid of them again! In this case, I don't consider that to be a bad thing! When they start to drop seeds you can either scatter some of it in other places where you want them--or you can just let them do their own thing and they'll wind up coming up all over the place anyway in a couple years! After any individual plant blooms it's gonna look REALLY ratty, and there's no way to make it look "good" again, so once you know for sure they've dropped some seed, I recommend just pulling the "old" plants out (I cut them off at the top of the soil, leaving the roots in the soil to decompose!). Since, once they drop seed, you'll ALWAYS have more, there's no need to try to "save" the old ones. If you have any other questions, I might not be back to answer them till after I get home after my trip. I'm crazy busy trying to get ready to go, and now something "legal" came up that's gonna take a bunch of the time I already don't have! Have fun at the swap, and enjoy your forget-me-nots next spring, Skybird Edited to add: After you sow the seed it would be a really good idea to mulch that area with some sort of "wood mulch" to help keep the surface of the soil moist. If you already mulch, just do whatever you normally do! Edited a second time to add: Mine are just starting to bloom! And my Brunnera 'Looking Glass' is in full bloom too! Love that BLUE!

I agree with alisonoz, as to genus, and think that your suggestion of Astragalus purshii is correct. I did check BONAP, and worked through all of the significant options for Astragalus in Colorado. But there are a shocking number of Astragalus species in your state - lucky you!!