Jewelweed, Orange (Impatiens capensis), packet of 20 seeds, organic

Family:  Touch Me Not (Balsaminaceae)

Annual, 60 days to flowers

(Touch-me-not, Orange Jewelweed)  Native to central and eastern US.  The flowers are orchid-like, spurred and orange. Traditional usage (TWM): Fresh plant, when rolled and worried until it exudes juice, dissolves poison-oak oils (urushiol) on the skin and also helps treat poison oak rash, helping heal the skin and relieve itching.  Regarding the germination of jewelweed seed:  It really isn’t fair for a simple annual, but the seed, once dry-stored for some time, proves to be double-dormant.  That means that the seed requires 2 vernal cycles to germinate (seed planted in the fall germinates on the second spring).  This understood, one approach is to simply direct-seed into your streamside, woodland, or moist garden habitat and look out for it to germinate sometime in the not-so near-future.  There is one bright spot, though.  I find that FRESH seed planted in the fall often germinates (Zone  7 and up) in the winter and flowers the next year.  Or if in Zone 6 and under, this fresh seed tends to overwinter and germinate in the spring.  This is better.  Therefore, we offer only fresh, undried (refrigerated) seed from the new harvest that we hope will germinate quickly for you.  Plant in cool, moist, rich soil in the part shade.

20 seeds/pkt., certified organically grown