I have balsam fever as well and have a zillion balsam seedlings popping up in winter sowing containers. What a great spring this is! Three cheers for impatiens!

Anyone else in love with balsam and jewel weed?

...Beverly

There is the ultimate cottage garden in my neighborhood. Long, skinny, runns along the edhge of the property; spring thru fall I find an excuse to walk the length of it 2-3 times a week.

One summer, (only one!) they planted touch-me-not. It spilled over the retaining wall onto the brick alley way, and eventually migrated across the alley. Now it has colonized the whole other side of the alley! And it's mutated, from a mild mannered 2-3 plant with demure pastel shades -- to this 3-4' tall tiger in wild shades, just waiting to explode seeds into the cuff of your pants and hit the road, ready to set up shop in a new garden. I love it!

I like them, but my wife does not. :(

No wonder the garden stores don't sell them - they grow too well and don't need much maintenance.

Really nice orange bloom in the late Summer/Fall.

And I have no idea where to put them.....

...Beverly

Your toads should have doubled by now. Mine are a few inches high. By fall they should be about 3 feet tall and loaded with purple spotted flowers that, as Beverly says, look like mini orchids.

Last year was the first year they really took off. They were somewhat modest the first year or so, but last year they were huge and loaded with blooms.

Enjoy and thanks again!

To answer your questions:
-- yes, it is super easy to grow. I had mine in shady, moist soil and it thrived. I've seen it colonize the edges of a dry dusty alley and thrive. In fact, it's kinda hard to discourage.

-- It's an annual in this climate, so the plants die off in the winter. But it self-sows very readily, and it grows fast from seed to flowering plant.

-- It's a wild plant originally, and is pretty common on the edges of woods. But it's also been hybridized and cross bred, and you can find it in garden centers as "impatiens balsamina" (the botanical Latin) or the common name, "Touch-me-not". (It got that name because the ripe seed pods sort of explode when you touch them, spraying the seeds a couple of feet.) I think the original is usually shades of yellow and orange, and has coarser foliage, while the garden version seem to be usually cooler colors from lavender to purple red to pink and white, with a much more tame look.

Wild jewelweed:

Touch-me-nots:

Hope that helps!