Do your impatiens have ringspots, purple to black lesions on leaves and stems, flower color breaking, stunting, death of terminals, and wilt? If the answer is yes, discard don't compost.

More than a case of INSV (Impatiens Necrotic Spot Virus) what you most likely have is a very tender annual that has experienced some very cool nights and is well on its way to the end of its life cycle.

Could also be one of the bacterial leafspot diseases. Impatiens are perennials, BTW.

Al

Yes, some of the impatiens are perennial - I. arguta, walleriana, and I. digitata and probably more - but the impatiens commonly found in gardens are generally treated as annuals which will turn to a blackened mush with the first killing frost. Warmer climates are another story. If you get yours to perennialize or self seed and sprout in the spring in Michigan, you're a lucky gardener.

I completely agree that we treat them as we treat other annuals, but that doesn't make them annuals. Even the most succulent impatiens are capable of completing 3 or more growth cycles, placing them squarely in the perennial category. Where we grow them cannot change that distinction, nor does the fact that they freeze in our areas change them from perennials to annuals. ;o) Similarly, Coleus is often referred to as an annual also, when in fact, like Impatiens, it is a perennial.

Actually, there was an Impatiens, a gift from a rosarian customer whose 5' tall Impatiens, growing in a bed, I'd admired, that self seeds and is a pest in the garden. I never learned the binomial, but she referred to it commonly as 'Australian Impatiens'.

Al

I'm not arguing this point into the ground with you nor am I at odds with the GardenWeb "experts" who have the impatiens in their Annuals Forum. Let's simply concede that impatiens are often treated as annuals...

I was merely addressing the OP's disease possibility question. I doubted that disease was involved - simply a plant that met up with some colder temperatures later in the growing season.

I already did - "I completely agree that we treat them as we treat other annuals ..."

I wasn't picking on you or looking for an argument. Some, I'm sure, didn't know that they are technically perennial plants, no matter where they grow, and it's a good thing to be able to differentiate between the two groups of plants based on science, instead of where they grow.

I have several Impatiens repens growing as bonsai (yes, bonsai) that are several years old, btw.

My apologies if you thought I was looking for a quarrel. I prefer conversations that provide light, not heat. I'll be on my way. Have a good day (sincere). ;o)

Al

I have never seen I. walleriana ever come back as a perennial...maybe they reseed. Other types of impatiens like jewelweed are perennial.