New Guinea Impatiens

Photo Information

Taken:	26 June 2008 12:07 The Meadows at Brushy Creek
Camera:	Canon PowerShot A550
Exposure:	ISO 80
	5.8mm, 0 EV
	f/2.6
	1/100

Backstory

OK. This isn’t a really great picture. I just wanted to talk about the subject matter.

I’ve always loved New Guinea impatiens. Their foliage is almost as pretty as their flower, and they stand up to Central Texas summer a little better than other varieties. Then there is the bonus (especially to the vendors) that they are not invasive since they do not reproduce here and must be repurchased every year. Must be lacking a crucial pollinator or something.

When I first expanded the bed in our front garden, they were one of the anchor annuals. You can see old barrier just behind the NGI. Today added soil and annual automatic leaf mulch has raised the soil level behind the stone wall and completely buried the steel barrier that never kept anything in or out of the area it supposedly defined. Because I added soil slowly, it did no damage to the other perennials, including the big oak tree, that also live in that part of the garden.

–8 October 2012