Torenia: a great alternative to impatiens. Does best in moist, shady soil; blooms non stop from spring to fall.

That's a great pansy look-a-like!

has anyone heard of the disease that is supposedly attacking and impatiens? I did get some at HD this year and don't see a problem so far but basically they are simply not in the nurseries. The torenias are a great substitute and the blue wave is the best I think

Shadyplace, you are talking about downy mildew of Impatiens. The symptoms typically start with a few leaves becoming completely yellow. Then all the leaves drop and all you have are bare stem and collapse. Spores may spread on the wind for miles and last in the soil for years. Downy Mildew disease only affects garden impatiens Impatiens walleriana, but all varieties. New Guinea impatiens are not affected nor any other garden flowers.

Wet foliage, cool temperatures (especially at night), and moist air are ideal conditions for disease development.
Beds receiving overhead sprinkler irrigation, because the foliage does not dry quickly are especially vulnerable.

There is currently no worthwhile treatment and no resistance at all. Reputable nurseries have just about stopped selling impatiens. Once you have the problems, forget having impatiens until breeders have genes for resistance, probably biotech added since no one has found any resistance.

I was surprised to find some actually. Last year there were none any where..but this year, other than the specialty nurseries and valley view farms, I have seen some at Lowes and HD The man at HD said " oh that was a rumour" guess they wanted to sell them! I only put one in a hanging basket and so far so good.

I guarantee you, downy mildew of impatiens is no rumor. Three summers ago I lost about four flats worth to it once it struck.

But people who have not had their impatiens turn into stems and mush get really angry at garden centers when they don't have the only really good cheap color for shade in the garden available (and the ones who do get it get really angry at the garden centers for selling them the plants "you should have known and not sold them).

Sometimes ya can't win.

Since impatiens are the number one bedding plant sold in the US by economics, this is a major disaster. A consortium of researchers from USDA, Ball, universities and ANLA are working together to try and find answers as fast as they can.