Impatients balsamina (Rose balsam, touch me not, ANNUAL, EDIBLE ORNAMENTAL)

Summer 2011-Impatiens balsamina in my frontyard.

May 22, 2012

IMPATIENS BALSAMINA - rose balsam, touch me not, kamantigue, surangga

(Tropical - ANNUAL)

It was raining overnight, so my hands was itchy in the morning. I said - hmm which seeds need to be put down?

i put down 7 little mounds of impatiens balsamina on the ground, in the front garden. 

While Impatients balsamina is not very popular in Ottawa, City, this was grows freely in Badian Cebu, Philippines where I grew up. This plant was cure for everything, from bruises to mild stomach pains. I never find it anywhere the local garden center, nor the local seed catalog.
I end up getting some from ebay earlier this year. I have no clue what conditions they need, but I imagine something warm enough - just like coleus ideal growing condition.

Last year, a single Impatiens balsamina grow in my front yard, and I was very excited. It came from the batch of annual seeds from the dollar store.

The name "touch me not" comes from the fact that a mature seed pod will explode when you touch it, spreading its seeds. I know - it was fun as a kid. We know it is almost fall when the seeds just explode. I hope to capture this on video soon - so more "touch me not" are needed in my yard. 

But this time, I want more of the plant. It is all edible - imagine if the kids eat it?
Sure - go ahead, who needs spinach when you have impatiens balsamina?

Hope she germinates for me as she is line up along my front walking pathway to my front steps.

Impatiens balsamina  August2011

SOIL : not fuzzy at all, good well draining loam is ideal, add compost to the ground and she is happy.

SUN/SHADE : partial shade please - okay, she can survive in  full sun, but the plant in full sun tends to grow slower, and just get burned by mid summer.

Pictures of more rose balsam in Summer 2012.

Impatients balsamina 2012

 In 2013, my love affair with Rose balsam grow, in fact, I started taking pictures of the baby balsam in June. I got many of them now in my front yard, in my back yard, and the bees love love them.

I read in Mark Cullen's book - "A Greener Thumb" c. 1990, that the flowers look like tiny roses or camellia. Maybe this is why it is called "rose balsam" - a rose like flowers.

Flowering in Mid July (awesome late flowering annual)