Spotted Jewelweed – Native Plant of the Day 09/10/2023
Photo from 9/6/2009. Location: Walker County, GA.
More info/ photos at the Impatiens capensis detail page.
Spotted Jewelweed – Impatiens capensis
Also NPOD 07/16/2010, 07/16/2011, 07/16/2012, 07/16/2013, 07/16/2014, 09/10/2015, 09/10/2016, 09/10/2017, 09/10/2018, 09/10/2020, 09/10/2021, 09/10/2022
I love the little jewelweed-they only show up in one spot here each year but this year there has been no-show. Likely due to unseasonal cool weather. They usually bloom in the heat of July but are hard to see even when I know where to find them. They remind me of my boy-now 20-he has bright red hair (orange he calls it), and the little flower looks like a little child’s sweatshirt hood to me. So, I always look for it. My Poem:
Child of Mine
Gem
so tiny to touch
O
to tug back the hood
orange and
softer than the most soft
of cottons, I think,
and beneath-
O freckles to see
Specks swept over smooth
along sweet curving cheek
secrets sit here with me
among jewels within my treasured weeds
wild in the recess of the woods
logs in the hollow
young grown old
it’s grown cold
chill in the air
I should go home
but we’re both not there
this is one of the few plants that will overcome an invasive plant trying to smother it. They are spreading up and down our creek bed, they are lovely! they seem so fragile, but they can be transplanted when small, but the soil must stay moist until they are established.