Hello JustJoy,

I, like you, attempted to harvest seeds from my impatients last year. I live in Washington, D.C. and spring is in the air for us now. I planted my seeds and to my joy they are now little seedlings. Mind you, I have to wait for a long time (30 days at least) for them to germinate - a lot of patience were called for. I nearly gave up hope! I guess their namesake is meant to be for us. Anyway, back to your question...

The greenlike pod is not the seed. It is the container of the seeds. Inside the pod, there are many tiny black seeds. You pop the pods with your fingers so that you may collect the seeds but please do this in an evelope so that the seeds won't fly everywhere. I guess you are saving them for your next summer. According to Mr. Impatient and some posts, you may have to freeze them. I did not but kept my seeds in a dry place.

Hope the above helps. Best of luck!

Periwinkle

Periwinkle is right about the seed pods but, you have to wait for them to mature. They should grow to look like little footballs. When they are ready to harvest, they should look somewhat translucent. Becareful because they will explode that is where they get their name. With the bedding type you dont need to put them in the fridge.

Hello!..Will Impatiens re-seed themselves fairly easily if seed pods are allowed to ripen on the plants in the garden?..I am in Zone 5...or should I collect seed and store it for planting in spring?...I was hopeing they were as persistant in the garden as the johnny jump ups and violas!!..haha..wishful thinking I bet..I am new to Impatiens...thanks!...GardenLove

You will need to collect seeds for next year.

Are there any special instructions for new guinea impatiens? I have harmony magenta and would love to keep it going.

Cuttings are the best way for New Guineas. I've never collected or seen seeds on them.

Uh Oh!
I may have just screwed up!
I was out collecting seeds from my other usual varieties: Cockscomb, Gomphrena, Periwinkles, etc. Being new to Impatiens, I didn't know what to do. I inspected the plant, assumed the seed was in the center of the bloom, and picked almost every bloom off the one plant!
Can I dry them, now, or was it too early to pick them? ( It's Dec. 5th. We've had one freeze so far.)
I was hoping to save some of these, since it was planted by the grandchildren!

I've illustrated seed collecting for Impatiens.

Wait until the pod is big and almost transparent:
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Pop the pod,
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the seeds that are immature will be white. The
ones that are ready will be brown.
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I have gotten a seed pod off New Guineas. It had about 3
seeds in it, and I was quite taken with it! :)

This is the only re-seeding I've ever gotten in Z5...
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Nice pictures tomato lover! I always look for that bit of brown coloring in the seed pod to know when they're ripe. It takes awhile to get the hang of when to harvest. If you see white seeds in the pod you'll know you didn't wait long enough! Here in zone 7 I get a lot of reseeding by accident but I usually collect seeds for the next year so I'm sure I can grow them where I want them rather than where they decide to grow!

Thanks for the pictures. I have seen these little curly things and had no idea what the heck they were LOL... So they do not reseed themselves? I live in zone 4.

I know this post started some time ago but I hope someone is looking and can give an answer. It is Oct. here and I saved about 40, 48 cell packs from a local store that threw them out as they were all dried up and not saleable.

I took then from the sales person who gave permission, watered them and thought if anything I could reuse the containers. To my suprise I have hundreds of plants and I want to take them all inside this winder into a all weather room. Do you think they will make it?

They are lovely and I hate to see these little guys die.

Thanks

Nancy.

Hi, Nancy! I think they would more than likely survive. However, I would keep them in somewhat a cooler area. They will get messy and more than likely you'll need to repot them to bigger containers. Good luck!