A rule of thumb when planting any seed is to plant them as deep as the seed is thick. I have grown balsaam, both the tall one and tom thumb, many times but I've never sown then in the ground, I've grown them in the house or greenhouse. 1 inch is too deep. They only need to be about 1/4 inch deep.

Thanks for the advice, Oilpainter! The rule of thumb is good to know for future planting, too. From what I've read, balsam impatiens reseed naturally, and I don't imagine nature plants them an inch deep, so I'm going to follow your advice and plant them very shallowly.

They won't reseed in the north, but they probably do where there is no frost. If you save the seeds you probably won't get the same small ones. The tom thumb is a hybrid that was introduced about 10 years ago. The original Balsaam is a plant about 18 inches tall

Hybrid seeds may revert back to the original form. Balsaam seed is relatively cheap though so if you like them I'd suggest you buy the seed.

Just wanted to share that I grew these from seed for the first time last year and I DID get some reseeding. Not a lot---about 7 seedlings. We are not all that far north though and they were in a slightly protected area (around an outdoor shower that protects in the winter from strong winds.

My routine this year to get lots of them: I planted them very shallowly in a tin lasanga pan with drain holes w/ a tall plastic dome punched with holes in April. Had germination in May and planted out last week.

Not an impatiens expert here, Balsam impatiens reseed readily here in my Zone 5b/6a garden. I planted some 4 years ago and have not had to buy seed since. I just move them from where they come up to where I want them. These are the tall old fashioned balsam, not the minis.

I have about a million of these guys on my property. Once you have an established plant, the next year you will have a thousand, and so on and so on. I believe that if you just broadcast the seeds, as what happens in nature, you'll be fine. I now have so many that I have to weed them out of my pots, cracks in the sidewalk, etc.