I haven't tried Forget-me-nots, but I have seen others plant them with their hostas. I think they'd look really nice growing near some yellow or gold hostas, especially those that come up yellow, to offset the blue of the flowers...same with brunnera. I have Jack Frost growing with mine, getting pretty big now and thinking of dividing next year to spread it around.

Karen

FMN's will work ....

what scares me is your thoughts somewhere else about lily of the valley in hosta ... gunna be a nightmare somewhere down the line..

made that mistake before..

ken

So far Ken I've been lucky! lol
I planted about 30 of the suckers last spring. So far, I only found one or two more growing. They didn't spread or even bloom this year. I'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed that they don't take over.

I once made the mistake raking leaves and forgetmenots together and placing those in the compostpiles. The next years I had forgetmenots everywhere, was a real menace. In case you want to plant forgetmenots make sure that you deadhead them before they set seeds, or they become weeds. I keep forgetmenots only as single plants, otherwise I remove them on sight.

I like to reduce maintenance. I did eliminate also most pachysandria and all lily of the valley plantings which tried to take over other plantings. It was a chore to dig all the roots out. I always kringe when posters inquire about adding spreading groundcovers between hostas.

Keeping hostas is such a good means to reduce yard maintenance - they keep down most weeds and look very good for 5 months.

hey bern.. roundup works great for such ....

think of ground cover in hosta.. as slug hotels .... and the little moles.. dug all kinds of tunnels thru creeping jenny.. got out the round up after i almost twisted an ankle.. twice ..

ken

Now Creeping Jenny, I cringe when I hear about it! I had creeping jenny in some of my raised beds when I first started perennial gardening, and let me tell you I couldn't get rid of it! It STILL is trying to come back after 5 years! It looks lovely for a time then begins to root itself all over the ground when it reaches it. Great for a hanging basket I guess.

berndnyz5, when should I deadhead the myosotis FMN's? When the flowers are spent, before they are spent? When do they set seed? and how can I determine when? I do have some planted in my rose bed, and have already deadheaded those, but who knows what next year will bring!

Hey I have almost all these "WEEDS" I just got them this summer. I have 4 lily of the valley,just got a Jack Frost Brunnera, & 4 Creeping Jenny plugs(which I have only had them not even a month and are no longer"plugs"!) I tried forget me nots by seed last year but only one came up and none came up this year.

I have heard a lot of bad things about LOV are they really that bad? I am in zone 4 so how bad could they really get here?

I just got my Brunnera this summer at Lowes I saved it! It looked like "H-E-double hockey sticks"! But looks great now. How big will it get? I have it right near my water spigot because it likes water. Right?

I am going to put my creeping Jenny in a planter on my fence-see link.

sorry I am the bearer of too many questions!

Here is a link that might be useful:

Bad. I planted a half dozen LOV 5 years ago in very dry shade under a Colorado Blue Spruce and now I face digging out about 6 by 10 feet of it.

The link doesn't work but about Creeping Jenny, keep and eye on it because it spreads by runners. Don't hesitate to clip the danglers off because once it's on the ground you'll be digging it out forever.

Yes, LOTV is bad, really bad, very invasive, a future disaster in your bed. Like your CJ on the fence idea, agree with manyhosta..keep it off the ground.
Love all my brunnera, they are well-behaved and look great in shade beds.

I'm with Ken. I have LOV in one of my beds. Round up and mulching over takes care of them when they need it. I have some grasses here that are much more of a PITA!

Hi Ken,
here is my experience with Roundup:
Roundup is safe to use when no other plants are around. It seems to drift more than a foot, can not pinpoint weeds, probably should use it as foam then.

Yes, Creeping Jenny took off on its own, roots about every foot or so, climbs down walls. I am fighting that too. So I tried Roundup several years ago, came too close to an established Sum and Substance which was gone in a year.
I used Roundup against another crawler (Ajuga) too close to azaleas too, musty have crept into the shallow roots of the azaleas possibly after a rain, I lost two azaleas then. But that opened space for more hostas, so was not too bad.
A few weeks ago I had to battle a larger "infestation" of Bishops Weed, remembered past bad experiences and used cardboard to shield azaleas and hostas against overspray (fine spray) while spraying Roundup. I only sprayed sparingly on the tops of the leaves. Bishops Weed is turning brown, hostas are OK, azaleas will show later.

I notice when using Roundup against grass in cracks of pavement, that grass seeds will not germinate there, grass will stay out of there for 1 or 2 more seasons. Therefore, I would not plant into Lasagna layers down to past grass for a season when Roundup was used. Roundup is bad stuff when not used carefully.
Bernd

Bernd,

I agree, I do always use it with a shield of some sort until it is dried on the nasty I want to eliminate. I've done it both ways... covering what I don't want to get hit (I do this most often) or encircle what I want to hit. It all depends on how things are growing in a given situation.

Jean