My Collection Of Impatiens

I have a small collection of Impatiens. I want to show it and tell about the different varieties of these plants in my garden.

A bit of history. Since the 19th century, people have known Impatiens because these unpretentious flowers bloomed on the windowsills of many houses.

Waller's Impatiens, double, Fiesta variety.  

Their flowers, towering above the leaves, create the impression of a bouquet.  

Fiesta variety

In Russia people called Waller's Impatiens 'Wet Ivan'. The plant received this name for the droplets of sugary liquid that protrude at the edge of the leaf. 

For abundant and long flowering, the plant received the English name of "Busy Lizzie". The Austrians call it 'Beautiful Viennese girl', comparing a flowering plant with a beautiful girl. 

 

 Waller's Impatiens, single, pink

 

 

Waller's Impatiens, single, white with red center

Waller's Impatiens' flowers are irregular, red white yellow or bicolor, simple or double. They are single or collected in loose inflorescence. The fruit is a juicy, oblong, multi-seeded capsule that opens with five curling leaves.

 

Here are Garden Impatiens or Balsamina Impatiens, or touch-me-not.  An erect annual plant of a pyramidal or spherical shape, up to 70 cm in height. 

Garden Impatiens, pink

Stems are branched, break easily. The flowers are large, irregular, simple or double, from white to purple.

Garden Impatiens, red

 

Also known as rose balsam or garden balsam, blooms in June - September. The fruit is a capsule with brown seeds. The original fruits, when ripe, "explode" at the slightest touch, scattering seeds at a distance.

 

Garden Impatiens, purple

Waller's Impatiens are my favorite indoor plants. Every year I take them out into the garden and they bloom well outside. I love to decorate containers, hanging baskets and flower beds with them. 

 

Fiesta varieties (Impatiens walleriana Fiesta®). These perennial plants have very decorative double flowers of various colors (more than 16), there are variegated forms. Due to their resistance to cold, I plant them in open ground. 

 

 

Waller's, Fiesta variety, double

 

Impatiens New Guinea, they have large flowers of various colors that bloom throughout the year - white, red of various shades, lilac, pink. Leaves of intense color from bronze to bright green.

 

Impatiens New Guinea (Impatiens hawkeri), single, purple

I grow all of my Impatiens in tubs. Outdoors they can be placed even in a fairly dense partial shade, since it is undemanding to lighting. But I don't do this.

Have you ever grown the Impatiens in your garden? What's your experience?

 

   

 

The One Who Lives In My Garden

It's always nice to see a hedgehog in the garden! They say that hedgehogs live where the ecology is good. The common hedgehog, or European hedgehog (Erinaceus europaeus), which lives in forests in bushes in gardens is most often found. The life span of a common hedgehog is about 6 years.

Hedgehogs are helpers in the garden, they fearlessly catch and eat snakes, ravage mouse nests, snails and slugs. Hedgehogs are not afraid of stinging insects. It costs him nothing to destroy the hornet's nest in the ground and eat its inhabitants, not paying attention to the numerous bites of wasps guarding their nest.

In Russian children's picture books, artists often depict a hedgehog carrying an apple on a prickly back. This is probably why many people have the mistaken belief that hedgehogs eat fallen apples. But they don't!

Biologists say that hedgehogs are especially attracted to hedges and secluded places for housing and nesting. Hedgehogs often build their hut for wintering between the roots of trees, in the hollows of stumps, sometimes in holes or in depressions in the ground.

This summer I met a hedgehog several times in the evening. He was sitting, basking on the patio tiles, warmed by the sun. He probably lives somewhere under the barn, there are just the roots of an old maple tree.

 

Have you met a hedgehog in your garden or near your home? What was he doing? 

 

Berries, Vegitables & Flowers In August

The third month of summer has come. The weather is fine, there is sun and rain, the wind is warm. Everything favors the harvest of vegetables and berries. I started picking black and red currants. The blackcurrant did not fully ripen; a few unripe berries remain on the clusters. I think for now to leave unripe ones on the bushes, later I will collect the remaining black currants to make compote or jelly. 

Redcurrants hang beautifully on the branches. It's a pleasure to collect berries, only empty racemes cannot be left so they will rot.

 

The squash has grown too big this summer. Probably because of the heat. Although I did not water them often. What to do with them now? I will most likely clean them from seeds, peel, cut into small pieces and freeze them for the winter. So they last longer. What do you do with the big zucchini or squash?  

 

Tomatoes turn red little by little. There are quite large tomatoes, there are also small ones. I will first collect the large ones and hope that the small ones will grow up and turn red. They are sweet!

Peppers can already be used in fresh salad and eggplants also can be fried and baked. Japanese eggplants have been planted in the greenhouse for the second year and I am happy with them. They ripen quickly, long and dense. The peel has no bitterness and is thin; you can eat it with the peel. If there are a lot of eggplants, I want to cut them into slices and freeze for the winter.

 

Here are more photos of my garden in August:

 

 

Hope the weather will be favorable for vegetables, berries and flowers in August. If the nights are not cold, there will be a good harvest of vegetables. I want to preserve my harvest as much as possible for the winter.

Happy August, friends. Enjoy summer days!