Touch-me-nots (Impatiens Balsamina)

[chrysanthemum]

For the first time this year I’m growing some Balsam flowers in pots of my front porch.  I understand that the seed pods burst open when they are touched (hence the common name Touch-me-not), and so I was hesitant to put them in my garden.  I have two large terra cotta pots on my front porch that were given to me a couple of years ago.  Last year I had some beautiful camellias in them, but they did not survive (much to my grief).  I decided to replace them with annuals, and a reseeding annual is just fine for me.

I started from seed inside and potted them up, then transplanted them.  They’ve done really well with morning sun and afternoon shade, though the one that gets more sun is a bit more vigorous.  They’ve been blooming with lovely, salmon-colored flowers, even on the side branches.  The photo didn’t capture all the flowers (they can kind of hide behind leaves since they grow from the stalk itself).





I gave one to my neighbor who wants reseeding flowers, and hers is doing well in the ground.

I have one more in a planter box in my backyard where it gets a lot of hot afternoon sun.  It’s younger than the others so hasn’t bloomed yet.  It will be interesting to see how it fares in so much sunshine.  I’m hoping that it will be a color other than salmon because my seeds were a mix, and I’d like to see some other shades.

[chrysanthemum]

Here’s a better picture of the first balsam plant on my front porch.  The second shot is the deep red color I found on the first blooms in my backyard plant this morning.  I had to lift leaves out of the way to take the picture, but I was thrilled with this shade.  This plant gets intense afternoon sun, so I’m not sure how it will do all summer, but I really hope I can keep it alive because the color is so striking.

[john]

I grow balsams every year as they will self seed themselves. They will wilt badly in the sunshine so I look for places with some shade. They will often get compliments and people will ask what they are. They are not commonly seen in most gardens and there season seems to go buy pretty quickly, They do well with late plantings too, so you can enjoy them again right up until frost. Last year my balsam season was cut short as they caught the dreaded impatiens downy mildew which has been a pretty big problem for the past 10 or more years. They have now developed some impatiens varieties that are supposed to be resistant. I am growing one called 'Beacon' we will see how it does.

[chrysanthemum]

I’d love to see photos of your flowers, John, if you have any that you can share easily.

This is my first time growing Balsam, and I’m very pleased with it.  I have two on my front porch where one gets only morning sun, and one gets morning and early afternoon sun.  The one with more sun is a bit fuller, but I let it run out of water the other day, and it let me know.  Thankfully it recovered with a good soaking.  I also have one in my backyard in a planter that gets no direct sun until after midday when the sun starts moving west.  Then it gets absolutely blasted with sun for hours until evening.  Surprisingly as long as I water it well in the morning, it is holding up really well, and though younger than my other two, has caught up with them and even may be a bit bigger and fuller.  Here’s a picture I took just before the sun got around to it today.

[john]

Very true about giving them extra water. It will really help overcome the impatiens lack of sun tolerance with lots of water.

[chrysanthemum]

My balsam flowers have been maturing seeds. The little pods turn a bit yellow as they age, and my youngest calls them “bananas.” We’ve had some fun recently picking the bananas, popping them open, and planting the seeds in the bed in the neighbors’ garden where they want to grow more flowers. They had one balsam right in the middle, but it rotted off at the stem recently. They do now, though, have little seedlings popping up where my son and I planted seeds from their plant and from our red one in the backyard.

I planted a few of the red ones in my large pots on the front porch as well. We’ll see if I can be faithful enough about surface watering to keep them going. I have my doubts.