New Plant Society Forming

Hi:

How many of you plant impatiens (either the "Bizzy
Lizzy" or "New Guinea" varieties in your shade
garden each year to add some color in between your
hostas, heucheras, etc.?  Do you know there are
nearly 700 impatiens species--mostly from Africa
and Asia.  Two species are even hardy here in
Michigan!  I happen to love these plants.

One day while surfing through egroups.com to see
what "new" plant discussion groups had been
formed, I came across one just for impatiens.  I
quickly joined the group and had the privilege of
meeting Derick Pitman, a man who is very excited
about the impatien genus of plants.  In the past
few weeks the ground work for legally forming a
new International Impatiens Society has been done
by Derick (you can email him at: DERBEAR@WEBTV.NET
for more information).  There is only one or two
more things he is waiting on before beginning to
take memberships!

If you are at all interested in impatiens, please
consider joining the email discussion group at:
http://www.egroups.com/group/impatiens

I've spent a couple of days now searching the
internet for everything Ican find on impatiens.
If you want to see what some of the species look
like check out these urls:

http://www.huis.hiroshima-u.ac.jp/~nomura/T/turfnm.html

http://www.mallorn.com/pom/Sep97/imppa40.html
(Impatiens pallida--a hardy wildflower in Michigan
and other parts of the east)

http://www.albion.edu/fac/biol/skean/impacapg.htm
-- another hardy impatiens

http://www.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~stueber/mavica/part1/01184.html

http://www.worldplants.com/pics/cockatoo.jpg

Do these pictures make you drool?  To me, they
look like miniature orchids and seem like perfect
plants for the shade and indoor garden.

It really puzzles me that we have seen so few
members of this large genus of plants in the
United States.  Do the English have access to more
varieties?  I'm really curious as to WHY our
nurseries have not grown some of the species and
tried introducing them into the trade.  With so
few plants that have bright colors for the shade,
it seems to me we should have access to more
impatiens species.  I would be interested in
receiving comments from wholesale growers
privately at euphorbia@michcom.net.  I'd really
like to know what it will take for more of these
species to become widely available to the typical
gardener.

--
Diana Pederson, Ingham County, Michigan, Zone 5,
United States
Member, Garden Writers Association of America
Enabling Garden Bookshelf
[http://www.suite101.com/articles.cfm/enabling_garden]
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