I overlooked a package of impatiens seed that were of precarious viability and with instructions to provide at least 8 weeks of cold weather before providing warmth for germination.

The weather here has been warm this spring, but the nights are cold so I have put out a WS jug in the shade, hoping they will get at least some cool weather and will sprout.

Does anyone have experience with impatiens seed - and are they really that fussy about a cold period?

Hi Dora --

I've grown impatiens from seed many times, and, while it does tend to be a bit "iffy," I've never given it the cold treatment before (because I had never heard that!). I've always gotten by far the best germination from seeds I've saved from my own plants (without any special treatment). Hmmm... now you've got me wondering about it... but at any rate, I've grown them without the cold treatment plenty of times, which I guess is the answer to your original question

Impatiens walleriana? I've grown them many times, inside under lights, using bottom heat.

Clothier says "Impatiens walleriana , buzzy lizzy , ,Type= a/p , , surface sow in warm light @ 77ºF, grow on @ 65ºF , 7-20d"

Karen

Apparently some of the impatiens species need, or prefer, stratification so it would help to know what impatiens it is.

Sue, good call -- when I think "impatiens," it's the common walleriana type... but of course there are other species!

@dorab -- are the seeds you have for the common "busy Lizzie" type of imps, or something else?

Sandy, that's what I automatically think of too - the only reason I then thought other kinds might appreciate stratification was that we have a lot of native jewelweed (Impatiens capensis (hummingbird food!) growing wild around here. So I looked that up and that one apparently does benefit from stratification.

I have the jewelweed here, too - in fact, the other day I had to stop DH from throwing some stuff he had cleaned up in the yard on top of a really nice patch of it (which isn't up yet, but it probably wouldn't have mattered if it was - he would have still put the stuff there), and want to try to get some seeds from it this year... that's why I'm .

The seeds are impatiens bicolor - I have since done a quick google and they are from the Himalayas.

Thanks. I guess I will have to see if I get anything, but don't really want to wish more winter weather on anyone just so my impatiens will germinate!

Assuming that they are walleriana type, they need heat, not cold.

Karen

dorab said:The seeds are impatiens bicolor - I have since done a quick google and they are from the Himalayas.

Thanks. I guess I will have to see if I get anything, but don't really want to wish more winter weather on anyone just so my impatiens will germinate!

It's hard to find requirements for this species - one website says it just needs a cold treatment, another says it needs both cold treatment and oscillating temperatures. Neither give specifics.

Yes, please don't inflict us with more winter weather - there's even possible flurries in our forecast for Thursday

Dora, you may want to check the Alberta noxious weed list.
Himalayan impatiens were on it, so I quit growing them.
But they were a lovely plant, but they will self seed.

Himalayan impatiens is Impatiens glandulifera, so not the same as the plant in question I. bicolor.

After some consideration, I am thinking the jug will need to go into the back of the fridge for a month or so in a plastic bag. Maybe my roommate/tenant won't notice.

I'm still trying to figure out what plant you are talking about. Is it not I. walleriana? Do you have a botannical name?

Karen

As far as I have been able to determine the botanical name is Impatiens bicolor, which to my mind shows a lack of imagination. Flora of Pakistan at efloras.org lists it as follows:

Impatiens bicolor Royle, Illustr. Bot. Himal. 151. t. 28. 1834. Hook. f. in Rec. Bot. Surv. Ind. 4:8.1904; R.R. Stewart, l.c. 464.

Lower Taxa (even more unimaginatively)

•Impatiens bicolor subsp. bicolor
•Impatiens bicolor subsp. pseudo-bicolor (Grey-Wilson) Y. Nasir

Some sites list it as closely related to I. niamniamensis.

I saw that Flora of Pakistan hit, also wondered at that name. I don't think that's a botannical name. But it says it's most closely related to I. niamniamensis, and PF says to direct sow after last frost, which would indicate no cold treatment.

B&T also says warmth
http://b-and-t-world-seeds.com...

Tropicals generally don't require cold as such conditions are not available to them in nature...

Karen

Karen, Impatiens bicolor is a valid botanical name, both TROPICOS and IPNI have it. It isn't necessarily tropical, being from the Himalayan Mountains. According to an 1863 reference on the Biodiversity Heritage Library (Curtis's Botanical Magazine), specimens were gathered at an elevation of 4,000 feet. Flowers are white and purple hence, presumably, the specific epithet of bicolor. Not sure if this link to the reference will work but I'll give it a try: http://biodiversitylibrary.org... (Edit: yes it works, for me anyway)

"most closely related to I. niamniamensis" . I was guessing it was tropical based on that.

Karen