Buckeye Yard and Garden onLine

* PERENNIAL OF THE WEEK. FORGET-ME-NOT - (Myosotis sylvatica.) This dainty, beautiful blue-bloomer is a great plant to combine with daffodils and other spring blooming plants. Five blue delicate petals surround a yellow center; white and pink cultivars are available as well. Forget-me-not is actually a biennial that acts like a perennial as it self-sows readily so you have a continual bloom of plants each spring. It prefers shade and does quite well under trees and in a woodland setting. Once it finishes blooming, you can pull it from the garden site to plant annuals if preferred. It is a member of the Borage family which includes 2000 species of plants and over 100 genera. Plants in this family generally have hairy leaves. Other plants in this family include borage, Virginia bluebells, bugloss, comfrey, and lungwort.

For more information, see:

• Natural Resources Conservation Service

* WOODY OF THE WEEK. MAGNOLIAS - (Magnolia spp.). Magnolias are ever-increasing in popularity in Ohio with many different species and cultivars catching the gardener's eye. It is always a question each year if some of the early saucer, star, and hybrid magnolias will sail through without frost injury. The tally each spring depends upon the diverse weather factors throughout Ohio: how far out a particular magnolia is during a frost; how low temperatures go, and for how long; and microclimate differences. The verdict for much of Ohio this year is pretty good. There is some wholesale flaming and frosted edges of tender flowers in some cases, but many magnolias in southern Ohio have already completed a successful bloom season and many in northern Ohio were not far enough along to be damaged badly by weekend frosts.

Here are some of the "Landscape Plants for Ohio" descriptions of early-blooming magnolias:

• SAUCER MAGNOLIA (Magnolia x soulangiana). Small, highly popular specimen magnolias (10-15') grown as a tree or multi-stemmed shrub with spectacular cup-shaped early spring flowers. Bright green foliage and the flowers white on the inside and pink on the outside are the key ornamental features. Saucer magnolias have good urban tolerance and are best grown in sun or partial shade.

• STAR MAGNOLIA (Magnolia stellata and hybrids). Small tree or shrub (10-15') with lovely, aromatic, white, star-shaped flowers that develop before leaves emerge in mid-spring. Attractive, dark-green lustrous foliage. Full sun is best for flowering. Many cultivars include 'Royal Star' with double flowers.

Numerous hybrids include the 'Little Girl' crosses of M. stellata and M. liliiflora. 'Ann', 'Betty', and 'Jane' have combinations of purples, reds and whites in flower. Hybrids between M. stellata and M. kobus known as M. x loebneri, include 'Dr. Merrill' with flowers larger than the species and highly aromatic.