Love the color combo!

I was thrilled that individual colors of New Guinea impatiens came out a few years ago - now I can grow a lot of them, the cost is no longer prohibitive.

I grew regular impatiens from seed this year, as I always do, and so far no problems with disease.

Love the color combo!

I was thrilled that individual colors of New Guinea impatiens came out a few years ago - now I can grow a lot of them, the cost is no longer prohibitive.

I grew regular impatiens from seed this year, as I always do, and so far no problems with disease.

Rouge, thanks for bringing this up! I've been really happy with my Sunpatiens...I used coral and bright orange in containers on my back patio. That location only sees full sun in the early morning.

mxk3, I love New Guinea impatiens, too. Some of those hot colors are great...those are the ones I tend to be attracted to lately.

question,

how do you keep weeds and grass from growing up around/inside/through your flowers?

I thought Sunpatiens are New Guinea impatiens - ?

'mxk3', I have had no luck with NGuinea Impatiens. Sunpatiens are for me much superior. And now I am using them in all the same places I had used walleriana.

Here is a link that might be useful: All about SP

Sunpatiens are a hybrid ; the parentage is Impatiens walleriana (the problem species) and I. hawkerii (new guinea). The resulting hybrids have proved to be highly resistant to Impatiens downy mildew, they can tolerate heat and sun to a much greater extent than I. walleriana.

Hybrids can only be vegetatively propagated so they are only available as plants. Since they are under patent protection, propagation can only legally be done with a license agreement. Makes it pricey for us to have big beds of them. :-(

I like NG impatiens, but it cannot tolerate conditions that are too moist or if the soil is slow to drain. I grow mine in pretty much full sun.

Desirai, I don't know about anyone else, but weeds in my garden areas are pulled by hand or chopped with a hoe. There are some exceptions to that, but not many.

'Garden ' is a verb as well as a noun. It takes some time several times a week.

Rouge, how tall are your plants?

Looks like I will have to buy these next year if I decide I have to have impatiens. I have a large mixed pot by our back door and saw a light orange with darker eye dwarf 4 pack at the nursery that I just had to have this year, even though I know better. This particular variety and color were the only walleriana this nursery was selling-gee I wonder why. I went out today and noticed that the plants look awful. I felt the soil and they don't need water. I picked a leaf and looked at the underside - you guess it, downy mildew. I had coleus there last year and managed to not get dm on the impatiens I had planted there the year before that. Thought I'd take a chance. Anyway, no more of the dwarf walleriana here.

Linda

Linda, to the highest point in the middle of each plant it is 14".

That's a nice height - not too short or too tall.

Do you know if you have the Compact Series or are they the Spreading Series?

Hate to ask all these questions, but these are new to me and I've not seen them when I've been shopping as yet.

I don't know Linda...sorry.

They look the same as New Guinea impatiens to me from the picture. I don't recall seeing these IRL, though, so maybe there is more of a differentiation that would be obvious if seen in person.

Still, seems like would be cost prohibitive. I'll stick with my seed-grown New Guinea. I am still THRILLED that the individual colors are now available from seed - probably THE BEST thing to come along in a long while. (at least as far as I'm concerned)

I agree with mxk3. SPs are way too expensive for any sort of mass planting. They were still around $9 at HD the other day! I too grow NG from seed and they performed wonderfully in varying degrees of light.

I so don't have a green thumb with NG Impatiens. They seem to fry in the sun for me and don't do well in shade. But this hasn't been the case for my "Sunpatiens" i.e. doing well in the different light aspects I have tried.

Have you seen the variegated version of SP?

Not the best picture but it is thriving as a single plant in this one plant hanging basket.

UPDATE:

Same location as above i.e. around the base of the tree but different variety of SP.

Thanks for the update. I tried some for the first time in pots on the deck. The colors were great, but mine never grew much more than when I first got them. Yours look so much better around that tree.

How many did you plant Rouge? That last pic is beautiful!

There are 4 individual plants 'Emily'.

The only information I could find out about sunpatiens is that they are not walleriana or New Guinea,but some kind of hybrid.My first guess would be that they are a crossing of those two species,but I also know that there is an enormous number of other impatiens species worldwide.Probably the most beautiful species that I've grown is the Chinese blue I.nabchabarwensis.The deep blue flowers are breathtaking and the foliage is awesome too.Unfortunately I wasn't able to collect any seeds.I bought a plant from Annie's and it was very pricey,but well worth it.The price may have come down and seeds might be available now,but I'm not sure,have'nt checked.There are also some beautiful tuberous species like tinctoria that has giant orchid-like blooms with deep maroon centers,but I haven't gotten around to trying any of those yet.Anyways,if anyone has the info on which species were used for the hybrid sunpatiens I would love to know.

I grew walleriana this year in Z6a Illinois and didn't have a mildew problem.Maybe it hasn't reached here yet.I have also grown an African species with yellow flowers and maroon centers,an annual Himalayan species balfouri with white and pink blooms,another annual Himalayan one called glandulifera,and the native orange jewelweed.The orchid-like tubular annual varieties get many more pollinators like bumblebees and hummingbirds while the only things I've observed on the flat flowered wallerianas and New Guineas were giant hummingbird moths with long mouthparts to reach the nectar.The tubular varieties have set seeds prolifically with the exception of the blue Chinese and yellow African which I really wish had.In all the years I've been growing wallerianas I've only unexpectedly seen like two volunteers coming up the next year total.

UPDATE 2017:

Wow I love the foliage on those! Funny you posted an update on sunpatiens... hubby just went out and bought a ton of them. I'm anxious to see if they do well, even if it is halfway through the season.

Update 2018: