Monday, January 28, 2008

Orange Star Impatiens


Impatiens
Impatiens walleriana
Synonym: Busy Lizzy
(im-PAY-shuns) (wall-er-ee-AH-nuh)

This picture was a little lesson for me. I didn’t write down if this was ‘Accent Orange Star’ or ‘Mega Orange Star’. I think it was from the ‘Accent’ series since it didn’t get very tall and the flowers weren’t the two inches wide that the ‘Mega Orange Star’ gets. I always enjoy having some Impatiens in the garden. The colors they keep coming up with are amazing to me. One thing I don’t like is the ever-growing trend of making them shorter and shorter. I like them a little taller for some areas. One time I accidentally fertilized my Impatiens with a very high Nitrogen lawn fertilizer and they grew to about 4 feet tall. The downside was they hardly had a flower all summer.

Most people are familiar with using Impatiens in the shady areas of the garden. They don’t need deadheading but require regular water to look their best. I found that the Deer do like to eat them so try and use a protected location. Hummingbirds and butterflies are attracted to the flowers. I have been using them in containers a lot lately and that has worked out very nice. At the end of the season I often bring some into the greenhouse for a little color for the winter. I have noticed indoors they need some fertilizer and have to be pinched back to prevent legginess.



This Cactus was growing in the Conservatory at work and I thought that since the Impatiens flower had kind of a geometric pattern to it I would post this one along with it. It is a specimen of Mammilaria supertexta.

I have been waiting all day to post this and am finally using Karen’s DSL to do it. Apparently when the cable guy was fixing the cable on the pole in front of my house he fixed it so good that it doesn’t work anymore.

8 comments:

Robin's Nesting Place said...

Great pictures! I love impatiens! They are a must have annual for me. I can't imagine them growing four feet tall. Wow!

Nessa said...

Beautiful. I love the detail you get.

AVCr8teur said...

Wow, I've never seen a cactus taken that way before. It really looks cool. BTW, tell the cable guy to unfix his fix.

jams o donnell said...

Great shots. I love the cactus. Marvellous photo. Happy WW

poor man's nicole richie said...

accent or mega you have captured it beautifully.

david mcmahon said...

That cactus shot is brilliant!!!

Unknown said...

I had to look at this twice before I could work out what it was! It looks like some solid ball or a matrix or something. :)

Cheers,

David Webb: Photographer

Anna M. said...

Hello! I'm helping find photos to post on the website of the Friends School Plant Sale, one of Minnesota's largest annual plant sales. It's a nonprofit school fundraiser put on by all volunteers. Would you be willing to allow us to use this lovely 'Orange star' impatien photo for the website?

Best regards,
Anna