Home » Plants & Animals » Gardening in Southern U.S. » Mellow on Yellow - mosquito dunks

Mellow on Yellow - mosquito dunks

© Emily Levitt

Yellow impatiens is my favorite garden newbie. My last big burst of personal enthusiasm occured following the introduction of mosquito dunks, and they aren't nearly as flashy as stellar new plants.

Apparently, you all like the yellow fellows, too. Once again, the e-mail on a column has generated a follow-up article.

How long will it be until the "Bizzy Lizzie" yellows are widely available? I can only guess, but I can tell you a few things about plant patenting from the United States Patent Office, which may help you reach your own ball-park estimate.

"A plant patent is granted on the entire plant. It therefore follows that only one claim is necessary and only one is permitted."

Ergo, there is one patent holder. This person or company may sell rights to said patent if desired...or not.

"The law also provides for the granting of a patent to anyone who has invented or discovered and asexually reproduced any distinct and new variety of plant, including cultivated sports, mutants, hybrids, and newly found seedlings, other than a tuber-propagated plant or a plant found in an uncultivated state."

That eliminates wildflowers and unimproved native plants from the patenting process.

And now, for the answer to the most asked question:
(a drumroll, please)

"An application for a plant patent consists of the same parts as other applications. A plant patent has term of 17 years."

Dang.

Perhaps if the demand is high enough, the originators of this cultivar will release more flats to growers. As nearly as I can figure, most of the ressearch and development on yellow impatiens was done at the University of Connecticut. Bodger Seeds
of South El Monte, California funded a research position at UConn in 1990 which ultimately resulted in the "Bissy Lizzie" yellows. These are now marketed by Bodger to commercial growers.

The process by which exotic cultivars are produced often results in sterile offspring. The many-petaled rose impatiens so many of us treasure are also sterile.

The second most asked question I recieved concerned reseeding impatiens, which I have in great abundance. Several people told me that their common variety impatiens never re-seed. If you turn the garden soil deeply in your annual beds, the seeds will never germinate. I have beds which I leave undisturbed (because I am lazy, not efficient) and those are the areas where your basic impatiens sets seed so prolifically.

Let sleeping seeds lie and they shall return...in a mild climate, of course.

The copyright of the article Mellow on Yellow - mosquito dunks in Gardening in Southern U.S. is owned by . Permission to republish Mellow on Yellow - mosquito dunks in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.