Balsam Plant- How to grow, care and types of Balsam plant
Balsam (Impatiens balsamina) is a fast-growing annual that carries rose-like flowers on upright stems from summer into the monsoon. Sow seed in January or February for summer bloom, give it morning sun with afternoon shade, keep the soil evenly moist, and pinch young plants for bushy growth. Flowers appear about 60 to 70 days after sowing.
Quick facts
| Detail | What you need to know |
|---|---|
| Botanical name | Impatiens balsamina (family Balsaminaceae), also called garden balsam, rose balsam, gulmehndi |
| Light | 4 to 6 hours of gentle sun; morning sun with afternoon shade suits the Indian plains best |
| Watering by season | Summer: pots usually need water daily, sometimes twice on very hot days. Monsoon: only when the top 2 cm feels dry. Winter: sparingly; the plant fades after flowering |
| Soil | Light, fertile, free-draining loam or potting mix with compost; pH about 6.0 to 7.0 |
| Temperature | Happiest at 18 to 30 C; suffers below about 5 C and is killed by frost |
| Flowering season in India | Roughly March to October in most regions, starting 60 to 70 days after sowing |
| Toxicity to pets | Not listed as toxic by the ASPCA; the closely related Impatiens walleriana is listed as non-toxic to cats and dogs. Large amounts of seed or sap may still cause mild stomach upset |
| Ideal spot in an Indian home | Sunny balcony, terrace pot or garden bed. It is a short-lived outdoor annual, not a long-term indoor plant, and dislikes air-conditioned rooms |
About Balsam Plant
| Common names | Balsam, garden balsam, rose balsam, Chinese balsam, gulmehndi |
| Plant type | Annual (grown fresh from seed each year) |
| Native area | India and South East Asia |
| Mature size | 15 to 75 cm tall (6 to 30 inches), 15 to 30 cm wide |
| Altitude range in India | Grows from the plains up to roughly 1,500 m in the hills; rich wild diversity in the Western Ghats, Konkan and the Deccan plateau |
| Fertiliser | Balanced liquid or organic feed every 3 to 4 weeks in the growing season |
| Propagation | Seed; also self-seeds freely from exploding pods |
What is the balsam plant?
Balsam grows on thick, upright, slightly succulent stems with light green, serrated leaves. Flowers sit tucked along the stem in the leaf axils and measure about 2 to 7 cm across. Colours run from white, pink and rose to salmon, scarlet, purple and bicolours, and many garden strains are fully double, like tiny camellias.
The plant is native to India and South East Asia and was carried to England by Victorian plant hunters, where it became a cottage garden favourite. Its neat, upright habit makes it useful for bedding, borders, edging and balcony pots.
It is nicknamed touch-me-not because of the way it scatters seed: ripe pods split and coil at the lightest touch, flinging seed a metre or more. (The wild Mimosa pudica, whose leaves fold when touched, is a different plant that shares the same nickname in India.)
Balsam self-sows enthusiastically. Seed saved from a named double variety will not always come true, especially from mixed colours, so volunteer seedlings often revert to simpler single flowers over a few seasons. Pull out any seedlings that appear where you do not want them.
Types of Balsam plants
Popular garden strains include:
1. Blackberry Trifle
A double-flowered strain in purple splashed and flecked with white. Plants reach about 45 to 60 cm and look best at the middle of a border or in a deep pot.
2. Bush Mix
Bush Mix cultivars stay compact and full through the season instead of turning leggy, which makes them a safe choice for containers.
3. Tom Thumb Mix
A dwarf type averaging 20 to 25 cm (8 to 10 inches), ideal for edging borders, window boxes and small balcony pots.
4. Camellia balsam
An old garden strain grown for more than a century. It reaches 45 to 75 cm, with camellia-like double flowers in rose, salmon, white, scarlet and violet carried close to the stem.
It grows best in full to partial sun with moist, well-drained soil, works in beds, borders and containers, and draws bees.
5. Balsam Peppermint Stick
Also sold as Camellia Peppermint Stick, this strain is known for red flowers flecked and striped with white, like candy canes. It grows 55 to 60 cm tall and 40 to 45 cm wide, depending on conditions.
Keep the soil consistently moist and do not let it dry out completely between waterings. It takes full morning sun or bright dappled light, but like all garden balsam it is a frost-tender annual, so it finishes once cold weather arrives rather than flowering all year.
In parts of Asia the young leaves and flowers of garden balsam are cooked and eaten, and the petals are used to garnish salads. Treat this as a minor culinary use, not a salad staple: eat only cooked young leaves from plants you know are unsprayed, and avoid the seeds.
How to Grow Balsam plant?
Nurseries rarely stock balsam transplants, so most gardeners raise it from seed. It is one of the easiest annuals to start.
- Buy fresh seed from a local nursery or save pods from last season's plants.
- Soak the seed in water for about 12 hours before sowing to speed up germination.
- Sow into a seedling tray or small pot of seed-starting mix or moist cocopeat. Press the seed on to the surface and cover only very lightly, as light aids germination.
- Mist gently, keep the mix damp but never soggy, and place the tray in bright indirect light at 20 to 25 C.
- Seedlings usually appear in 7 to 14 days.
- Once each seedling has two to four sets of true leaves, transplant it into its final pot or bed, spacing plants 20 to 30 cm apart.
- Expect the first flowers about 60 to 70 days after sowing.
In north India, sow in January and February under cover so the plants are ready when the weather warms. In the south and along the coasts, you can sow from December through to the start of the monsoon and again after the heaviest rain.
How to grow a balsam plant in a pot?
Balsam does well in containers as long as it gets enough light, water and feed. Use a pot at least 20 to 25 cm wide with several drainage holes, and fill it with a mix of garden soil, compost and cocopeat or sand so water drains freely.
Pots dry out far faster than beds. Through a north Indian summer, balcony pots often need watering every morning, and a second check in the evening during a heatwave. Water at the soil surface rather than over the leaves.
Mix a slow-release or granular organic fertiliser into the potting soil at planting, then top up every few weeks. Frequent watering leaches nutrients out of a container, and unfed plants stop flowering and turn pale.
Keep about 30 cm between pots so air moves freely, which keeps powdery mildew at bay during the monsoon.
Balsam flower season in India
For summer flowering, sow in January and February. Sow thinly in nursery beds, seed pans or seedling trays, using fine sandy soil outdoors and cocopeat as the sowing medium if you are raising seedlings indoors.
Flowering then runs from roughly March through the monsoon and into October in most of India. In the hills and in the far north, plants are cut short by the first frost. In Kerala, coastal Karnataka and the north east, heavy monsoon rain can batter the flowers, so shift pots under a shaded ledge during downpours.
Balsam plant care
Balsam is low maintenance and bounces back well from midday wilting in hot weather. A layer of mulch, dry leaves or coco husk keeps the roots cool and the soil evenly moist, which matters most in May and June.
When plants reach about 10 cm (4 inches), pinch out the growing tips. This forces side shoots and gives you a fuller, sturdier plant with more flowers. Regular watering and feeding keep it blooming right through the season.
Balsam Plant Sunlight Requirements
Balsam flowers best with 4 to 6 hours of direct sun, ideally morning sun. In the plains, harsh afternoon sun from April to June scorches the leaves, so an east-facing balcony or a spot with light afternoon shade works better than a south or west-facing wall. It is not a reliable indoor plant: in a dim or air-conditioned room it stretches, drops buds and quickly fails.
Balsam Plant Watering
Keep the soil moist but never waterlogged. Water potted plants when the top 2 cm feels dry, which usually means daily in summer and far less often during the monsoon. Water at soil level, in the morning, and empty any saucer under the pot.
Best Soil for Balsam Plant
Use fertile, porous, well-draining soil or a good potting mix. In garden beds, loosen heavy clay with sand and add compost or well-rotted manure before planting. Avoid compacted soil where water sits.
Temperature and Humidity Requirements
Balsam thrives at 18 to 30 C. Cold is its main enemy: growth stalls below about 5 C and frost kills it outright, so plants finish in a Delhi or Punjab winter. It enjoys humidity but copes with dry air as long as the roots stay moist. During a heatwave it may wilt by afternoon and recover by evening, which is normal if the soil is damp.
How to Fertilize Balsam Plant
Feed a balanced fertiliser every 3 to 4 weeks through the growing season, following the dose on the pack. Organic options such as compost tea, vermicompost or diluted fish emulsion work well. Too much nitrogen gives leafy plants with few flowers, so switch to a bloom-focused or potassium-rich feed once buds form.
Balsam Plant Pruning
Balsam needs little pruning. Pinch the tips of young plants, then remove broken, crossing or diseased shoots and spent flowers as you spot them.
Pests and Diseases
Powdery mildew and other fungal problems are the usual issues, especially in humid monsoon weather. Avoid wetting the foliage, do not overwater, and give plants space and air movement. Red spider mite can appear in hot, dry spells; spray the undersides of the leaves with water or a mild neem solution. Remove and bin badly affected plants rather than composting them.
Potting and Repotting
Balsam grows happily in pots on balconies and terraces. Choose a container with plenty of drainage holes and leave about 30 cm between pots. Because these are annuals, you will not need to repot if you start them in a large enough container.
Traditional uses of the balsam plant
Garden balsam has a long history in traditional medicine across Asia. These are folk uses recorded in traditional systems, not proven treatments, so do not use the plant in place of medical care.
- A paste of the flowers is traditionally applied to minor burns.
- Leaf paste has been used on insect bites, warts and skin complaints.
- The plant is described in traditional texts as digestive and diuretic, and has been used for rheumatism and joint pain.
- In the Philippines, the seeds have been used for back pain.
- Flower and leaf extracts have traditionally been used against minor bacterial and fungal skin infections.
Other uses
Young leaves are cooked and eaten in parts of Bali and elsewhere in Asia. Crushed balsam flowers and leaves stain the nails orange-red, much like henna, which is why the plant is called gulmehndi in parts of India.
Balsam companion plants
Companion planting means growing species close together so they support each other, whether by sharing the same light and water needs, filling gaps in the bed or attracting pollinators. Balsam pairs neatly with these two.
Impatiens
Busy Lizzie (Impatiens walleriana) is a close cousin of balsam and shares its love of moist soil and part shade, so the two can be watered as one group. It flowers in almost every colour except true blue and suits both pots and beds. Perennial in the tropics, it is usually grown as an annual in the plains and looks best where balsam's upright stems leave gaps near the ground.
Coleus
Coleus was another Victorian bedding favourite and still earns its place for foliage colour in sun or shade. It has square stems and paired leaves, and its small blue-white flower spikes are usually pinched off so the plant puts its energy into the leaves. Planted out in early spring, it fills its space within one season and takes the same moist, free-draining soil as balsam. Cuttings root easily in water, so you can carry it over from year to year.
Conclusion
Balsam is one of the cheapest and quickest ways to fill a balcony or border with colour: a packet of seed sown in January gives you months of flowers by summer. Buy fresh seed or healthy plants from a nursery that also stocks good soil, compost and fertiliser, keep the roots moist, pinch the tips early, and the plants will do the rest.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you care for balsam plants?
Give balsam 4 to 6 hours of morning sun, keep the soil evenly moist, and feed a balanced fertiliser every 3 to 4 weeks. Pinch the tips at about 10 cm for bushier growth, water pots daily in summer, and collect dry seed pods at the end of the season for next year.
Does the balsam plant need sunlight?
Yes. Balsam flowers best with several hours of gentle direct sun, ideally in the morning, plus light shade during harsh afternoon heat. It also grows in partial shade, though with fewer flowers. It is not suited to dim indoor rooms or air-conditioned spaces.
When should I sow balsam seeds in India?
Sow in January and February for summer flowering in most of India. Seedlings appear in 7 to 14 days and flowers follow 60 to 70 days after sowing. In the south and along the coasts you can also sow from December onwards, and again after the heaviest monsoon rain.
What is the balsam plant used for?
Balsam is mainly grown as an ornamental annual for beds, borders and pots. In traditional medicine across Asia, flower paste has been used on burns and leaf paste on bites and skin complaints. Crushed flowers stain nails like henna, and young leaves are cooked as a vegetable in some regions.
Is the balsam plant poisonous to pets?
Garden balsam is not listed on the ASPCA's toxic plants list, and the closely related Impatiens walleriana is listed as non-toxic to cats and dogs. Even so, eating a large amount of seed, sap or foliage can upset a pet's stomach, so discourage nibbling.
How can I make my balsam bloom more?
Keep the soil consistently moist, feed every 3 to 4 weeks, and pinch the growing tips when plants are about 10 cm tall. Balsam does not tolerate drought and stops flowering when thirsty. Remove spent blooms, and avoid high-nitrogen feeds that push leaves at the cost of flowers.
How many types of balsam are there?
The genus Impatiens contains roughly 1,000 species worldwide, of which about 230 have been recorded in India, with new species still being described from the Western Ghats and the north east. Garden balsam, Impatiens balsamina, is the species grown in gardens, and it comes in many named strains.
Why is balsam called touch-me-not?
Because the ripe seed pods burst at the lightest touch, curling into spirals and flinging seed across the garden. The botanical name Impatiens refers to this impatient seed release. The sensitive plant Mimosa pudica, whose leaves fold when touched, is a different species that shares the same common name.
Sources
- ASPCA Toxic and Non-Toxic Plants list: https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/toxic-and-non-toxic-plants
- Missouri Botanical Garden Plant Finder: https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/plantfinder/plantfindersearch.aspx
- Royal Horticultural Society plant advice: https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice