Time to make a thread on a very beautiful wild flower in the impatiens family. This is made with you in mind, Lady Leghorn. I think the flower seed pods that you were trying to gather, which were difficult, because of bursting is in the impatiens family. Many varieties of impatiens. The pictures here are of two that grow wild. I had both varieties back on the coast growing on our property. I have not seen impatiens capensis, the smaller variety, about 6 feet tall, grow here in the Okanagan. But I have seen the 10 foot giant, impatiens glandulafera growing here. I think it may be an invasive species, but not sure. Sure can grow out of control, everywhere!!
Back on the coast I did a whole lot of seed saving of seeds. I never did keep any of the seed from either of the impatiens varieties that I had saved, lost them somewhere I guess, don’t need them, don’t want them. So anyways, just thought I would bring in some pictures of some most beautiful flowers and how the seed pods grow. Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.
We will firstly look at the smaller variety, called impatiens capensis. Back on the coast I kept a few colonies of honeybees and was always interested in watching which plants they liked, or should I say loved. This variety was one that they loved to pieces, they would climb inside the flower, gather the nectar and the pollen on their legs when they came out would be white, I would have thought golden coloured, but nope, white pollen. This was a favourite of the honeybee and it grew all summer along the ravine edge, in the cooler, more moist areas. Beautiful as beautiful can be.
The flower colours were orange and yellow, two tone....
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Honeybee with the flowers, you can see how small the flowers are
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Climbing right inside
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This is the pink flower of the impatiens glandulafera. This plant can be like 10 feet tall and the flower is huge, the honeybee is not attracted to it, I don’t know why, beautiful in its own light. The flower itself would be about 2 inches long, versus the flower on the capensis variety, which is about ¾ of an inch long.
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These seed pods that are shown here are of the orange variety, the impatiens capensis. I do not have any pictures of the glandulafera. Look closely. The seed pod can actually get much more full looking than this, almost round, when it is ready to burst, these are a little less mature, but still hold a powerful seed within the confines of the shell.
The seed pod is in the centre. When the pod bursts, the two outside parts of the pod separate and form a whirly type half pod. The centre stringy thing you see is the stringy thing that holds the pod together, until it releases and the pod bursts. So interesting, and yes, if you brush the plant when the pods are full, you can hear the seeds flying everywhere in the bush, bouncing off this, that and the other thing. Just a fascinating method of plant propogation. So many plants do this with their seeds in this manner, to fly off to the wild blue yonder, a long ways away from the parent plant.
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Mostly I would pick off a branch, so I was not touching the seed. If the pods are not fully ripe, the seeds will not be bursting out, yet they will still develop as the pod dries more. Look closely for the seed pods.
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A bucket of seeds, what a racket when they begin to burst out. Hope you have enjoyed the pictures, of times long ago. I think this was in the year of 2007.
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Back on the coast I did a whole lot of seed saving of seeds. I never did keep any of the seed from either of the impatiens varieties that I had saved, lost them somewhere I guess, don’t need them, don’t want them. So anyways, just thought I would bring in some pictures of some most beautiful flowers and how the seed pods grow. Have a beautiful day, CynthiaM.
We will firstly look at the smaller variety, called impatiens capensis. Back on the coast I kept a few colonies of honeybees and was always interested in watching which plants they liked, or should I say loved. This variety was one that they loved to pieces, they would climb inside the flower, gather the nectar and the pollen on their legs when they came out would be white, I would have thought golden coloured, but nope, white pollen. This was a favourite of the honeybee and it grew all summer along the ravine edge, in the cooler, more moist areas. Beautiful as beautiful can be.
The flower colours were orange and yellow, two tone....
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Honeybee with the flowers, you can see how small the flowers are
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Climbing right inside
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
This is the pink flower of the impatiens glandulafera. This plant can be like 10 feet tall and the flower is huge, the honeybee is not attracted to it, I don’t know why, beautiful in its own light. The flower itself would be about 2 inches long, versus the flower on the capensis variety, which is about ¾ of an inch long.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
These seed pods that are shown here are of the orange variety, the impatiens capensis. I do not have any pictures of the glandulafera. Look closely. The seed pod can actually get much more full looking than this, almost round, when it is ready to burst, these are a little less mature, but still hold a powerful seed within the confines of the shell.
The seed pod is in the centre. When the pod bursts, the two outside parts of the pod separate and form a whirly type half pod. The centre stringy thing you see is the stringy thing that holds the pod together, until it releases and the pod bursts. So interesting, and yes, if you brush the plant when the pods are full, you can hear the seeds flying everywhere in the bush, bouncing off this, that and the other thing. Just a fascinating method of plant propogation. So many plants do this with their seeds in this manner, to fly off to the wild blue yonder, a long ways away from the parent plant.
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Mostly I would pick off a branch, so I was not touching the seed. If the pods are not fully ripe, the seeds will not be bursting out, yet they will still develop as the pod dries more. Look closely for the seed pods.
[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
A bucket of seeds, what a racket when they begin to burst out. Hope you have enjoyed the pictures, of times long ago. I think this was in the year of 2007.
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