It's an impatiens species of some sort. Google 'Jewel Weed' and maybe you can ID which specific species you saw.

Regular old, garden center impatiens plants have the same kind of seed pods. If you touch them, they pop open. If you grow any of these in your garden, go check for the seed pods. You've probably never noticed them, but they'll be there.

Kevin

Impatiens capensis. Pretty native annual that does very well in moist shade or partial shade. It will reseed and spread like crazy under these conditions. I had a nice stand of it coming in this year, but it got extremely dry this summer, and it all croaked. :(

balsam does it...

and i did not know it was an impatien.. go figure

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Oh, just wanted to add, you can winter-sow it, but there's no need. If you'll able to collect some seed, or buy some, just scatter it where you want it to grow. Mine has reseeded very thickly each year, although I will probably lose it this year because of the drought. If happy it will spread aggressively, but it is SO easy to pull up - the roots are shallow.

I should probably head off and try to collect some seed in the neighborhood and scatter it for next year. It grows near a little stream and some wetlands - is this what you're talking about?
{{gwi:277994}}

Jewelweed is one of the worst weeds imaginable where I am--maybe the worst of all. I have literally thousands and work constantly to pull them from my perennial border. But the woods my garden backs up to are full of them. They get three or four feet tall--tho can be shorter--and have modest orange flowers.

They are indeed a species of impatiens and like the same conditions--soil that holds moisture, part shade, but will tolerate fairly deep shade and fairly full sun.

The only two good things about jewelweed are that the roots are very shallow and so are easy to pull--and the deer love it and since their arrival here have been eating a lot of these pesky plants.

I would never plant it. You will be sorry.

Jewelweed is reputed to be an antidote for poison ivy. Usually where PI is found, jewelweed will be close by. I have grown it in my semi-dry woods, but it has never really taken hold as the deer always eat my few plants before they get a chance to reseed. But I keep trying, gathering seeds each fall and scattering them along my dry creek. Garden cultivars of impatiens grow well there, and so should the jewelweed.

Another impatiens to avoid is I. glandulifera which is sometimes listed as ornamental jewelweed. It highly invasive in moist areas - more so so than our native jewelweed.

I have had ornamental Jewelweed here for about 15 years. It is very invasive but is quite atractive if you have the right spot for it. I planted it out back of our old drive shed between the building and a gravel laneway. It is on the north side and grows at least 8-10 feet tall in almost full shade. You can't get your hand around many of the stems. It hides our fuel tank and my husbands shelf of old scrap iron so it serves a purpose here. It did spread somewhat more last year but it is very easy to pull out when small. The lawn mower gets rid of what grows in the grass although I don't remember much ever growing there and the rototiller gets rid of some in an old garden I have behind the shed.
It is cool looking and I haven't tired of it yet. But you do need the right spot and a big one at that!

Interesting, jewelweed only gets about 18'-2' here.

Well, I have my answer! Thanks so much to everybody for their feedback. Looks like next year we'll be doing some screeching as we pop those seeds...and then some weeding! Life ain't perfect, y'know?!