Spanish Busy Lizzy?

A few years ago an elderly chap gave me some seeds which he said he got from Spain and he called them Spanish Busy Lizzies. Every seed germinates and they seed themselves around every year and I herd them together in groups. I've been waiting for the rain to stop so that I can photograph them as they are easily damaged by the rain. Can anyone recognise them? I cannot find anything like in my books.

Here are the flowers which come in all shades of red and pink and sometimes white.





Here they are in one of their groups. It is difficult to see size in relation to the Lavatera as the Lavs have gone weird this year and are over 6ft tall at the moment and still growing!!
So I guess the Span B.L.'s are about a metre (3ft).




If it helps, when the seed pods are ripe and you touch them, they spring open in a sort of twisting motion. On warm evenings you can hear them popping away.

Sadly, my elderly friend is very ill and we don't expect him to be with us next year so I would love to be able to tell him the real name of these plants as he is quite curious to know.

Thank you all.

K.

 

Hi, I think it's Himalayan Balsam. It is very invasive but isn't it pretty?
http://www.dgsgardening.btinternet.co.uk/himalbals.htm
The victorians were very fond of it - one of the many names I have heard is 'poor man's orchid'

 

I'm 99% certain it is the 'garden balsam' Liz - Impatiens balsamina. It doesn't seed itself about that freely except in the south of the UK and is never likely to be a problem. We normally grow the double-flowered, dwarf varieties such as 'Tom Thumb' in this country so the single flowered, taller hybrids are less familiar. If only the flowers were held more clear of the foliage, I'm sure they would be more popular.

The weedy 'Himalayan Balsam' (Impatiens glandulifera) grows to 2m or more high with very conspicuously pouched flowers on long pedicels that hold them well clear of the foliage. It is indeed invasive along river banks where it can crowd out native pants. Nevertheless, I agree that it is a very handsome plant and there are some extremely attractive colour variants. I once found a very rich, true ruby red that seemed to glisten in the evening sun.

I collected a lot of seed and grew them all on, but not one produced the same colour. There was a small stream running along the edge of fields I have in the Midlands and for several years, the progeny of this colour form were allowed to naturalise in the hope of it cropping up again. Unfortunately the colour never re-emerged and when the steam dried up some years ago, the colony died out.

 

Its not Himalayan - I spend a lot of time seeking out and destroying the stuff, its a fun plant until you get it in your area!

 

I think I will go along with DaveP on this - no offence to Liz and Waco - but the flowers don't stand out on stalks. They sit on the stem, which as DaveP says doesn't do it any favours.

I wouldn't say it is invasive as the roots are very shallow and in a strong wind I can find them all lying on their sides dying. As I said before, the self sown seedlings I dig up and put together in a patch then sow some more seeds with them.
There are some Love in a Mist amongst the patch in the picture and they haven't been strangled, in fact they were self sown from last year and in my front garden they CAN be a nuisance since they self seed all over the place.

I hope it isn't a weed since a lot of people have had seeds from me as when they are looking their best - which is not right now - they really do look lovely.

Anyway, thank you all for your help and I'll tell my friend the good news. He was just about right with his guess of Busy Lizzy wasn't he? Impatiens is a busy lizzy isn't it? Just got the country wrong. :D

 

Yes, Impatiens is Busy Lizzy.
It is very attractive- think I'll try some! I like things with popping seeds.