The New Guineas do just fine in the sun. Yours are probably wilting because they haven't established a good root system yet, or they aren't being watered deeply enough.

Once established, I've always considered them pretty tough plants.

i consider it a VERY tender annual ....

tender to planting IN SPRING ...

tender to sun burn ...

tender to shock

tender to water needs ...

i THINK ... you have shocked the heck out of it.. planting a shade plant in sun ... IN AUGUST .... i THINK ... you should be doing a little dance it is recovering at night and just not dieing entirely ...

new ones.. planted next spring.. with months to get a good root system .. to deal with the heat of august .... should do just peachy .... according to the rhiz ....

my point.. besides being happy they are still alive.. is that you can not come to any real conclusions about transplants in august ... whether they fail or not.. it will be a whole different ball game if you try again in spring ... so dont give up on the idea.. if you have problems this summer ...

ken

ps: did you harden the plants off to full sun ... if not.. they might sun burn in the next week or two ....

They really aren't full sun plants, they are part-sun (i.e. part shade) plants. Too much shade, on the other hand, and they won't bloom well, if at all, in my experience.

I find they do extremely well, grow lushly and bloom lavishly with morning sun and later afternoon/evening sun. They wilt something awful and burn a bit in a couple hours of direct afternoon sun - again, in my experience.

I find they do extremely well, grow lushly and bloom lavishly with morning sun and later afternoon/evening sun. They wilt something awful and burn a bit in a couple hours of direct afternoon sun - again, in my experience.

===>>>> the alternative way to say this is.... no sun in the heat of the day .... say 2 to 6 pm .... give or take ...

it is the exact description of what sun a hosta would like ....

in fact.. most 'shade' plants are really only shade tolerant .... and would like some sun .... presuming you can get them the water they need in that sun ... and by avoiding the highest water loss time.. the heat of the day ... 2 to 6 ... you reduce the amount of water you need to provide for them to thrive ...

most plants sweat ... transpire .. give off water ... and if they get too hot.. and cant pump enough water .. then the leaf tissue will be damaged [think sunburn on pasty white skin] .... so its a fine balance between sun.. heat.. and water ...

ken

I just pitched a potted New Guinea Impatiens. It was in a planter on the N.W. side of my house and because of a tree got only a few hours of direct sunlight a day. Unfortunately some of that sunlight came from the west and as the position of the sun and the season progressed, the leaves began to burn. A major infestation of spider mites didn't endear it to me either.... It is interesting to me to read northerners experience with this plant being similar to mine. It's not just our prolonged heat apparently, but the strength of the afternoon summer sun.

As it so happens, I have a large transplanted hosta behind those impatiens, which I am anxiously watching, as it is hands down my favorite. Its the one I posted about earlier (on the hosta forum) and now think is "Liberty". Its the only hosta I put in this new bed, as its quite impressive as a stand-alone specimen, the focal point.

Previous position was under a juniper tree, where it got morning light only, shade after noon. It was in a holding bed for a month due to construction, where it (and the other hostas) got noonday sun: only for a few hours, but they all bleached. It still gets more sun than its old position, but now is in full house shade after 1 to 2 pm. Im watching for new leaves to emerge, hoping it can handle the greater amount of sun here. The old leaves were bleached, so its hard to tell.

The New Guinea Impatiens seem to be doing better. Less wilt.

I found that they do great in part sun as previosly mentioned!

I have 3 colours of sun impatiens. orange, pink and red. The orange are not flowering well with the same amount of light provided for the pink and red plants. what amount of direct or indirect light is required for each colour? The plants are in Houston TX where the summers are swampy and the days hot. the winters are swampy with various temp.

I had purchased Sunpatiens for the first time last year. They bloomed beautifully in about 6hrs sun down to just dappled shade. They got nice and bushy. (although I admit I did have to water quite frequently) Have you given these a try? They were a pricey though, so I may try to grow from seed this year. Anyone had success from seed????

Sunpatiens are not available as seed. I know, drats! And they are still under patent protection so propagation isn't legal.

Look for sets of six or so sold on line as small plants for a better price than a big pot.

All kinds of fabulous New Guinea colors are available as seed, though. That's the way I go.