Very nice Jay, are these in your collection? You must have a cool climate (I'd think) to keep some of those. Rumor is that several of those species hate the hot summers.

Ha,ha. Oh do I wish they were in my collection! These are the ones I have grown. I.wallerana, New Guinea, I. capensis, I. glandulifera,I. ballfouri, I. namchabarwensis, and Yellow Queen African Impatien. They are all so fascinating. Wish I could grow them all. The yellow Queen, and the Blue namchabarwensis are both breathtakingly stellar!!! Thank you for the comment dbarron!

Is it possible to breed these with walleranas? Anyone tried it with success?

Dbarron, I tried and failed at getting glandulifera to germinate the first few times. Finally I suceeded, and they were nice, but à little rough looking in my climate, compared to pictures of them growing in the PNW. A few seedlings came up the following year, but not tons of them like with Jewelweed. Thé namchabarwensis, I ordered the plant from Annies. I grew a yellow African Impatien from seeds offered by Burpee years ago, and that was not something I wanted to do again with the namchabarwensis. Too much intensive care. I was not able to obtain any viable seed from the blue one, and not one seedling from it ever appeared. A really nice species to grow is I. ballfouri. Thé blooms look like little orchids, and its easy To grow from seeds. Thé blue one I wanted very bad, and the plant was expensive, but I just had to have it with the high hopes I would get seeds :( No regrets, it was breathtaking! :)

Dbarron, somewhere along the way I lost all my I. ballfouri, so I would happily share seeds if only I had them. I truly love just about all the exotic species Impatiens, but I don't have à sunroom, and I cant do any heavy lifting, so I'll holding off getting any right now. But I can dream!

I might see if I can locate balfouri seeds. Species impatiens are hard to find :) Thanks for your info though Jay. Who would have thought that what people call invasive is hard to germinate ?

dbarron, the glandulifera is mostly invasive in wetter climes like the U.K. and PNW. For a few years I was obsessed with wanting to grow it and not being able to get one seed to grow. I think the seeds that finally germinated were gotten from Select Seeds. The ballfouri is nice because it keeps a nice bushy shape that's more civilized than the sometimes rough looking jewelweed. This year I just have the wallerana singles and double rose flowered ones, and of course more Jewelweed than I'll ever need, but the hummers and bumblebees love it and so do I. I'm hoping the walleranas don't get that nasty mildew that's making the rounds. I tried growing yellow Jewelweed from seed once and had no luck. I should try the I. pallida again. Do you grow any Jewelweed?

I had to chuckle at the "wetter climes" comment :-) Not so much wetter: "Average annual precipitation in Chicago is 35.82 inches; in Seattle it's 37.19 inches. Seattle's precipitation falls mostly as gentle but long-lasting rains, whereas Chicago often receives short but intense rainfall that is more likely to cause flooding."

Not at all sure why glandulifera is such a problem here other than the fact that it is pretty cool in our summers, which I think they must prefer over summer heat. But it is typically very dry here in summer as well....virtually no rain to speak of between mid July and the end of September.

I grow I. omeiana, which looks fabulous even if it never bloomed. Stunningly patterned foliage on red stems! But you have to wait until late summer to see the yellow flowers, however with that great foliage, it's very pleasant wait :-)

I have seen pallida ONCE...and never been able to re-find it. I see glandulifera every where...and never want it in the garden again (years to eliminate). I appreciate it where it is though.

Thanks for the climate update gg. I took a train from here to Seatle once and remember as I got close how mild and moist things got, so I guess I just assumed you got more rain than you actually do. I think you are right about glandulifera preferring the cooler Northwest summers. More like its native area in the Himalayas. dbarron, I thought you wanted to grow glandulifera? What species took you years to eliminate? There is a state park about 30 miles from me where I saw a lot of I. pallida growing. Maybe I will take a trip out there and collect a couple. It's jewelweed, so it's not like I'm stealing lady's slippers. I did see a hybrid for sale a few years back that looked like a cross between a yellow African species and a wallerana. I didn't care for it at all, especially after growing the gorgeous pure yellow African. That jewel looked just like the 8th photo down.

Brain slipped a cog, I meant capensis. It's pretty but a reseeding monster.

I suppose climate (mine being hotter and humid) is a trade off. I can grow crinums, some hardy malvacea, some passionflowers, and some more xeric plants that GG would never be able to grow in her humid cooler environment.

It's human nature to want what we can't have though :)

I might try to reaccquire I. omeiana again and see if grows well for me. It did not in Oklahoma, but my environment here is quite different. It lasted three years for me and put on a wonderful show the 2nd year, but was almost absent in the third..then gone.

That's cool that you grew I. omeiana. Never tried that one. Just curious, where did you obtain it from? They must have some sunshine on the west coast, because gg spreads sunshine wherever she goes, so she has to soak it up from somewhere. I have a lot of I. capensis , but by flowering time they are culled to just a few thanks to our hot,dry summers. Have a wonderful holiday!

I think I ordered it from Plants Delight (a long time ago..since I've been gone from Oklahoma for seven years now). If I were ordering now, I would look elsewhere...because PD is expensive :)

You'd be surprised what can grow here !! And many xeric plants are very desirable in this area as rainfall is not very significant, especially through summer. And we have no humidity to speak of - certainly nothing like what is experienced in the midwest or east coast. The PNW climate is not well understood by those that do not live here :-)) Many think we all have webbed feet because of the wet........

GG, don't you have webbed feet and green mossy skin?

I also thought YOU were part amphibian. Close to nature, close to God!

This is cool. The only other genus in Balsaminaceae, Drocera. GG, do you think you can grow these? They like wet, and with all that standing water you have lying around....... :)