Keep a pot of henna at home, and you won't need to go to the nail salon for ten years

Grow a pot of impatiens in summer, it's pretty and you can dye your nails with it, absolutely pure green and pollution-free nail polish

The beauty of impatiens lies in being both pretty and practical, you can dye a beautiful set of nails without spending money, non-toxic and harmless, so reassuring

Impatiens, a particularly friendly flower, we call it nail flower around here. The flowers come in bright red, soft pink, purple, white, a riot of colours, cool and delicately fragrant.

When I was little, outside our front gate, a patch came up every year, a blaze of brilliant colours, really spectacular. We used it to dye our nails, and the result was vermilion red; dye them several times in a row and it turned deep red. This was the most eagerly awaited thing every summer.

Impatiens is slightly toxic, but as long as you don't eat it and don't break it off to play with, there's no problem enjoying it. I played with it from childhood all the way to adulthood, and was fairly lucky never to be poisoned

Growing impatiens

Impatiens is very easy to grow; in our own little corner outside the gate, it never needed any care, it just bloomed on its own every year. Later a road was paved outside the gate, and it never grew there again, what a shame.

Potting mix choice: one part garden soil, one part leaf mould, one part river sand. Mixed this way it's loose and airy, not prone to waterlogging, and helps its roots spread out and breathe.

Impatiens likes sunlight and fears damp; it tolerates heat but not cold. Give it plenty of light normally, and move it indoors at midday in summer. A flower pot is different from planting in the ground, scorching sun will burn it.

Watering doesn't need to be too frequent, just water when dry and let it dry between waterings. Or wait until it's completely dry, then water thoroughly. If the soil is too wet, put it somewhere ventilated so the moisture evaporates faster. Never let it waterlog.

During the growing season, give it some home-fermented cake fertiliser water once a month, or fermented rice-washing water, or a dilute nitrogen fertiliser solution, all are fine. Apply light fertiliser frequently, and the concentration must not be too strong. Two months before the flowering period you can add some phosphorus and potassium fertiliser to promote flower bud differentiation and produce more buds.

Impatiens is a very tough flower, the type that bursts into bloom given a bit of sunshine. The buds grow from the bottom upward, and it flowers in great abundance, truly layer upon layer.

These days pretty girls all like to get their nails done, but actually this nail flower is a natural nail-art miracle. When we were little, how many girls who loved looking pretty gave themselves manicures. This bright red colour won't fade

, until it gradually gets trimmed off as the nail grows. Prettier and longer-lasting than today's nail art, isn't it? Those of you born in the eighties, do you still remember?