Nemophila (Baby Blue Eyes)

How to grow Nemophila (Baby Blue Eyes)

Nemophila menziesii

🌸 Flower 🌱 Grown each year

Low carpets of sky-blue, white-eyed flowers for edging, pots and under roses. Quick and loved by bees.

At a glance: Sow late March to mid May.

When to sow, plant and harvest

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Sow outdoors
Flowers

Timed for a typical UK garden (last frost mid-April). The app uses your own town's frost dates.

Growing Nemophila (Baby Blue Eyes): what it needs

Light
Part shade · 6+ hours a day
Watering
Water in dry spells; pots daily in summer
Soil
Any well-drained soil
Spacing
15 cm
Height
15 cm
In pots
Grows well in containers
Feeding
Liquid feed every two weeks once flowering starts
Hardiness
USDA zones 2–11
Difficulty
Easy

Step by step

  1. Late March – mid May · 3 weeks before the last spring frost

    Sow Seeds Outdoors

    Sow thinly where they are to flower, in a sunny spot, into raked, weed-free soil.

  2. 7–21 days after “Sow Seeds Outdoors” · Early April – mid April

    Check Germination

    Seedlings should appear in 7–21 days. Keep the soil moist. If sown outdoors, thin them to 15 cm apart once they have two true leaves.

  3. 39–69 days after “Check Germination” · Early May – early June

    First Flowers

    Take a photo for your journal!

  4. Mid October – early November · around the first autumn frost

    Clear or Collect Seed

    When frost blackens the plants, pull them up for the compost heap. Leave a few seedheads first if you want to save seed.

More flowers to grow

Photo: Cliff Hutson / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.5)