Those Impatiens are cute plants! I had to Google them to see what they looked like. I very much like plants where bits of saturated color dance at the top of thin stems.
In my bearded iris bed I like Verbena bonariensis. I used to drop in a few Asclepias curassavica as well, for the Monarchs, but the butterfly weed's color coordinated aphid thing got way out of hand, so I haven't grown them for some time. Another fun one is Emilia javanica. You might enjoy that. basically, though, I border my bearded stuff with classic portulaca, just the tackiest blend I can find. Also thymes.
I need to send you some Pentapetes phoenicea seed if I get enough ripened this season. It runs real late here. Do you know it? As soggy boggy plants go it is pretty intense and elegant. I'd have said it was about as saturated a red orange as one might imagine, but Himself dragged home a 'Bonfire' begonia last week so all bets are off.
As for I. tridentata, I thought I had it once --the white form, of course-- but it turned out to be a wrong 'un. The guy I had it from had it from--I think--We-Du Nursery, where I got my Japanese violets--and, of courser I passed around seed like a madwoman before called on the problem. I'm not sure I've ever seen the real thing, and never have in the wild.
As for pitcher plants and such, I had an interesting chat with a kid --abut eight?--at the nursery the other day. He was intent upon hybridizing, he said. He'd been reading about Burbank. He wanted to cross a pitcher plant and a cactus, I forget which, something that blooms about once a decade probably. I said it was a mighty wide cross and he said he did not care as he was a patient person. I wished him well, and meant it.
Cordially,
AMW
-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Kramb <dkramb@badbear.com>
To: iris-species <iris-species@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thu, Jun 20, 2013 1:46 pm
Subject: [iris-species] companion plants
Anner, I have some pairings of companion plants that are TDF!
One of my favorites is Impatiens pallida combined with Iris brevicaulis. They both love soggy soil. They both bloom at the same time. (Impatiens pallida blooms all summer long.) They are both native (I'm lucky enough to have extremely local native genotypes of both species). And the flower colors are so harmonious.
Pushing the limits of what can be called "native" is another pairing that is a favorite of mine... Sarracenia species paired with Iris tridentata. They are companion plants in the wilds of the southeastern USA. And they love growing side-by-side in my garden too. They don't bloom at the same time, but the pitchers are opening up right now (Sarracenia is the genus-name for carnivorous pitcher plants), just as the Iris tridentata buds are showing color. They are fantastic together!
Somehow Impatiens capensis got into my TB seedling bed. And it is spreading rapidly through there. I love it! Those bright orange bursts of color look great suspended amongst the TB foliage all summer long.
Dennis in Cincinnati
