Impatiens irvingii from seed

19 years ago

I have what I believe to be an Impatiens irvingii. It was given to me by a friend who has a friend who collects plants from the wild (legally). The collector did not key it out nor did they provide a name. After it bloomed I identified it as I. irvingii. It came from somewhere in the Himalayas. It suffers in our summer heat but loves our spring and fall weather. I overwinter it in a small hoophouse kept just above freezing where it never goes dormant. It blooms from May til Oct. It is a prized plant in my garden. It now has small fruits developing and I intend to bag them to catch the seed. I was wondering if there is anything special that I need to do to succeed at growing them from seed. Do they need a cold spell? Should I wait til next spring to sow them? If I just left the plants alone, would the seed start and grow big enough to transplant into pots this year? And, how easy is this plant from cuttings?

Thanks

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Comments (2)

MrImpatiens
19 years ago
Hmmm if this plant is a native to the Himalayas it is not Impatiens irvingii which, is from Africa. Irvingii is one of the easy Impatiens to start by seed. Just like balsamina or walleriana they dont need a cold spell. Now if it is a Himalayan species it more then likely would need a cold spell. If you dont heat your hoop house much in the winter they would more then likely sprout on there own, even down to the mid 40s is enough. To know for sure I would need to see a picture of it.
trianglejohn
Original Author
19 years ago
I'll email you a picture. I know longer maintain an account with any of the photo storing sites so I can't link to a photo.

This plant has been shared with a few people in this area so I am not the only person with it. Others have tested it for cold hardiness and it failed to return this past spring.

As far as I know the collection trip was in Asia but I only heard the story when a division of the plant was given to me - and not from the collector.
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