Impatiens

I was perusing my photos and found this adorable image of an impatien in the garden.  This plant is my ‘Watcher on the Wall’ and, due to its gorgeous colour, this is my next entry in Becky’s ‘In the Pink’ Square in September photo challenge.

– ⋅ o ♥ o ⋅ –

There are more than 1,000 species of Impatiens which belong to the family Balsaminaceae and, it’s interesting to note, the only other plant to belong to this family is the genus Hydrocera.

Also know as balsams, busy Lizzie, jewelweed, touch-me-not, snapweed and patience, their flowers vary as much as their names with some being rather spectacular doubles.  My little beauty is only a single, and I believe it’s Impatiens walleriana.

This plant is located in the bottom row of my verticle garden.  It adds a pop of colour amongst the succulents that live there, and because it is in the bottom row, it receives more water than the other plants, as well as less sunlight – quite accidentally the ideal position and conditions for it to be an ‘alarm bell’.

I can see these bright pink flowers from inside the house, and when they’ve become droopy, I know it’s time to turn on the tap and give every plant in the verticle garden a drink of water.