How To Grow And Use Balsams In Your Room And Garden

2024 Author: Sebastian Paterson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:47

"Roly Wet", or "Hustler Lizzie"

"Lizzy" - this is how the English call a flower, familiar and beloved by many, for its relentless flowering almost all year round. Among our people, the same plant bears the simple name "Vanka wet". Learned? Of course, this is a balsam that grows and blooms without fail wherever it is planted, even in an old saucepan. He adores warmth and water, for which he received his disreputable nickname.

This plant is photophilous and so thermophilic that even low positive temperatures can damage its delicate oblong leaves with a pointed tip. Given the large vegetative mass of these flowers, they require nutritious soil.

Balsams (Impatiens) are grown both at home and in the garden, bringing the pots into the rooms in the fall. There are annual and perennial species. Both are propagated by seeds and cuttings. Annuals are grown mainly from seeds, they are often undersized and all summer decorate the garden with a bright carpet or border of pink, red, white, lilac irregular flowers with many shades. During the season, cuttings are cut from them, they easily take root in water, and then this culture can be carried out in pots in the garden and at home.

But among the annuals there are also tall species, they are very elegant in the garden and are even indispensable when you need to quickly decorate some unsightly-looking object, or "compact" a mesh fence, or just create a small dividing hedge. Balsam seeds are sown for seedlings in March; they are planted in open ground after the end of spring frosts.

So, iron balsam, or Royle(Impatiens glandulifera Royle) is native to the Himalayas. It can reach 2 m in height and quickly create a large array of plants even by self-sowing, if you once planted such a plant in the garden. Its leaves at the base have two glands, for which the plant got its name. The flowers are large, “shoe-shaped” (similar to aconite flowers), pink, white or red with purple streaks and spots. Blooms from July until frost, leaves a large vegetative mass for compost in autumn. From an early age, you can pinch the tops of the shoots of plants to vary the height of the plants during flowering. In this way, a blooming cascade is created. You can transplant balsams at any time, even with a growth of 1 m, it is only important to compact the ground well with some deepening of the root collar, the root ball in giant plants is surprisingly small,therefore, transplanted flowers need a garter to a support or to closely spaced bushes, fences.

If you accidentally touch the balsam fruits, they instantly open up and literally "shoot" seeds in different directions (hence another popular name - "touchy"). This has not only a disadvantage, but also an advantage: you will always have an abundance of planting material for the back of the mixborder, or filling a free spot in the flower garden if something is missing over the winter.

Balsam balsam, or garden (Impatiens balsamina) originally from East India - an erect plant 30-60 cm high with juicy stems, fleshy smooth shoots. Its simple or double flowers are sessile, attached in the leaf axils. Outwardly, such a flowering stem resembles a "blooming" dishwashing brush with many densely sitting elongated leaves. Depending on the type of flower, groups of carnation or camellia-like garden balsams are distinguished. This species can be grown in containers both at home and in the garden to decorate the terrace, porch, entrance to the gazebo, benches. Seedlings of these balsams are planted in a flower garden at the end of return frosts, but in recent years earlier than June 10. Planting distance 20 cm from each other.

For the garden and home recently, varietal plants of New Guinea balsam (Impatiens New Guinea) with denser dark green leaves, undersized, profusely blooming with rather large flowers of pink, purple tones, one-color or two-color, with strokes and spots, are often sold.

In various rooms usually grown varieties balsam Valera or Weller (Impatiens walleriana), Holst (Impatiens holstii), sultanovidnogo (Impatiens sultanii), Peters (Impatiens petersiana). Many varieties have been bred with simple and double flowers, monochrome and variegated forms.

Indoor balsam, or sultanovidny is distinguished by abundant flowering of numerous pink flowers located above the leaves of a low bush, several pieces at the ends of the shoots.

We balsam Holst flowers are large, brick-red. But there is a form with pink flowers and a dark center. Its cuttings, like other species, easily take root in water

So, it is clear that balsams grow successfully both in the open field (during the warm season) and at home. Succulent stems and leaves indicate their high water requirement. In addition, they need light, nutritious, breathable and permeable soil. It is convenient to add to the soil mixture once a powder of complete long-acting AVA fertilizer with nitrogen, which works all year round, or capsules of AVA-N for three months of action.

The place of planting or placement in the house is sunny or partial shade. When disembarking in the garden, a gradual hardening is observed on the balcony: they shade from the direct sun, it is better to plant on a cloudy day. On the southern windows on hot summer days, flowers often bind in a day from excess light and heat without watering, so it is better to keep them not in the heat, for example, on windows shaded with openwork curtains. And withered plants "revive" under a warm shower or spraying with simultaneous watering. In summer, in hot and dry weather, balsams, both at home and in the garden, need abundant watering.

Low-growing balsams are used as carpet plants, filling them even in semi-shady places under the crowns of trees and shrubs. Long-term flowering and a variety of flower colors allow you to create spectacular additions to compositions with perennials, the flowering period of which is much shorter than that of summer plants. After all, every gardener strives to create his own unique garden of continuous flowering, and balsams help us in the best way possible in this.

Unlike new compact varieties, the old forms of specific balsamines most often grow in one tall, ankle stem. This is not very attractive, therefore, such plants must be pinched in time during the growth period. For example, upon reaching a height of 10 cm, the growth point of a young plant is plucked out. If you do not use long-acting fertilizers such as AVA, you should immediately feed the plants with full fertilizer for growth (Kemira, Uniflor-growth). After a while, side shoots with buds will begin to germinate. For abundant flowering, you have to alternate the feeding for growth and flowering (Uniflor-bud) every 10 days (which is why it is more convenient to use long-acting AVA fertilizers).

Perennial indoor balsams are propagated by cuttings that quickly and easily take root in water. It is advisable to darken the glass with cuttings with paper or black foil for speedy rooting (roots are better formed in the dark). To get a more lush bush, not one, but three rooted cuttings are planted in one pot, which are pinched in the same way as described above.

Low-growing varieties are more suitable for low wide pots and bowls, for tall ones - of a regular shape, rather high ceramic pots. They are heavier than plastic ones, the plants in them are more resistant, in addition, they have better air exchange, which is important for balsams. Broken shards, pieces of foam plastic or expanded clay are certainly placed on the bottom so that moisture does not stagnate. By the end of the season, the stems of balsams, especially tall ones, become bare, while the plants lose their decorative effect. Therefore, at the end of summer, it is necessary to cut off several apical cuttings to obtain new young plants. Older specimens are cut shortly at the end of flowering in the fall; cuttings can be used for rooting. In the spring, mother plants are transferred into larger containers with the addition of fresh soil and AVA fertilizer. Having one copy of different varieties of balsam,they can be propagated quite easily and decorated with these bright, elegant flowers and the house, and the garden, and the balcony with a terrace.

Indoor balsams, planted in large container planters, go well with pelargonium, petunia, lobelia. It is important to choose plants that match the color. If pelargonium has white flowers, then next to it varieties of balsamines and other annuals of any color will be appropriate. To give lightness and airiness to the composition in a container in early spring, even before planting balsams and pelargoniums, you can sow elegant gypsophila (annual) into it, and even do this twice a season, removing the fading stems before the seeds ripen. The combination of openwork branches of white and pink-flowered gypsophila with purple leaves and double balsam flowers will create a harmonious, elegant and graceful living picture, a mini-garden in a large container. By placing it in partial shade, you can significantly extend the flowering of these charming and unpretentious plants.

In a word, the gardener's fantasies have no limits, and the abundance of flowering plants makes it possible to successfully and variedly bring them to life.

Elena Kuzmina

Photo by the author