How to plant impatiens in filter

[Ariel]

I am wanting to plant an impatien or two in my bog filter and I’m wondering if I can just take a plant from a greenhouse that has been growing in dirt and plant it in the gravel and water or do I need to root cuttings in water and then plant them? I don’t know if roots that are used to potting soil will do too well being planted into water and gravel.

 

[addy1]

I just took the plants rinsed off the dirt, put into the water. They did fine.

 

[JRS]

Welcome to the forum. A great plant to add around the pond also. I use them in the crevices of the edge rocks surrounding the pond with the roots in the water; a nice splash of color. I also use them in a pot with soil suspended in the top of my barrel filter.

 

[Mmathis]

Hello and welcome!

They are lovely! I place them between the rocks, leave a little soil around the roots.

 

[lmbauer2017]

Yesss impatients are super forgiving. I buy mine from a generic garden center, then fill a bucket up with water and place the root ball in there. Then I gently pat the ball of soil and it washes off really easy with minimal root damage. And like Mmathis said, just leave the center matt of roots and soil on and stick that puppy in your filter. I'll pile some small rocks up maybe a 0.5-1inch up the stem so it sits on dry rocks.

And welcome! This is an awesome forum with a lot of really nice and knowledgeable people <3

 

[j.w]

@Ariel

 

[Ariel]

Thank you all so much for your advice! I’m still at least a couple weeks from being able to plant any tropicals but I’m feeling very antsy to get started. I only dug my pond last summer and it was too late to plant anything by the time it was ready (actually, I’m not going to plant anything in the actual pond yet because I want to make it bigger already ) so I’ve been waiting ALL winter for this!!
And thank you for the welcome—this seems like a friendly group!

 

[dinm]

I love Impatiens, no flower like that in the shade, just can't find it. Blooms till winter too.

 

[WaterGardener]

I put them on the edges the waterfall, on each side. I wash off all the soil and set them on the rocks and use a small stone to hold them in place. By the end of the summer they have completely covered the top half of the waterfall.

I had some left and made a large floating planter for those. All the impatiens are bare root, no soil at all

Don't know why the pics are so large!

 

[Ariel]

I put them on the edges the waterfall, on each side. I wash off all the soil and set them on the rocks and use a small stone to hold them in place. By the end of the summer they have completely covered the top half of the waterfall.

I had some left and made a large floating planter for those. All the impatiens are bare root, no soil at all

Don't know why the pics are so large!

Beautiful! I hope I can grow them that well!!

I’m not even sure what all varieties of impatiens there are but are there any that I should avoid? I know there are SunPatiens but I will avoid those as it gets a decent amount of shade.
Also, has anyone tried the double impatiens?

 

[WaterGardener]

Those are just the regular impatiens. I can't remember what type they are. I save seeds from them every year and start them early indoors and put them out when it's warm enough.

The only problem I had with them was with the floating island. They almost all died at first, turning yellow and not growing. I've not been able to have any floating plants survive for several years now.

I asked a friend who happens to be a landscaper, and he said they looked like they had an iron deficiency. He told me that the ones in the waterfall were picking up iron from the rocks, so they were doing well.

So I got an iron test for the pond, and there was zero iron in the water. I quickly realized that I would go broke trying to treat the entire pond. I would pour in the correct amount of chelated iron and test the water 15 minutes later. Zero iron! The plants were taking it up as quickly as I was adding it.

I started spraying the leaves of the plants regularly, and that island is the result. Now maybe I can grow more floating plants in there as long as I spray them with the iron solution.

 

[Ariel]

Those are just the regular impatiens. I can't remember what type they are. I save seeds from them every year and start them early indoors and put them out when it's warm enough.

That is amazing that they soaked it up so quickly!! I am a tiny bit jealous of your zero iron water though. We have well water and the area where we live is pretty much more iron than water! Funny story, after my husband and I got married we moved into our old farmhouse and realized the water softener didn’t work. My toenails ended up turning orange from showering in the rusty water before we gave up trying to fix it and get a new one!! I would love not having an instantly orange shower after using it just once after the water softener runs out of salt!!

I think I will try a double impatiens and see if it works because they are extra beautiful in my opinion!! And of course a single one or two as well!

 

[WaterGardener]

Double impatiens would e stunning! Might have to try some of those.