Hi javiwa! When I remodeled my kitchen, I barely touched my gardens. The following spring, we remodeled our guest bath and then had a washer flood, which kept me out of the garden for another summer. So last year I really got into gardening with renewed enthusiasm. It's been several years since I've grown annuals in pots and never got into them much, but we put up a new fence and it was calling for pots, which I'm hoping won't turn into a big FAIL!

Oh, mayflowers, I'd LOVE to see your pot(s) of impatiens or whatever pretty flowers on your fence. Brutally hot TX summer heat arrived far too soon for my taste. When our house was built 25 years ago, we had zero shade/trees in the yard. I waited 10 years before I could even find bushes busy enough to plant a row of impatiens beneath. And then the cute bunnies came and nibbled off the blooms every morning. :/ A couple of months ago, I had every intention of plopping some impatiens down....sigh.

Anyway, back to you. :) Do you get such a hot afternoon sun, such that you need to move the pots back, or maybe it's that you want them on your new fence? I just wonder if the lack of vigor of the non-hot pinks is due to lack of sun.

We have a large tree along the fence that is taking over our small backyard, so I have a lot of shade. The view directly out our dining room sliders is of the fence, and I can't get anything large to grow there in the garden. The focal point is supposed to be a hydrangea but it actually shrunk this year. I thought I'd try hanging baskets on the fence but no flowering plant really likes full shade. I think that's what did in the mimulus. I thought it got morning sun but I think my tree and the neighbors' has now taken that away.

Sorry you missed the boat with your impatiens. Can you grow some annuals late summer into fall? Snapdragons?

The overall size of the root system is limited by pot size, so in some regards, yes the pot size will limit the size of the plants, as will planting multiple plants in a pot - they compete with one another, best not to over-plant a pot IME. That being said, top growth comes from the branches, so they will still probably branch out and fill in the pot lushly.

mayflowers -- Summer into fall is my crazy-hectic work season, and the last thing I think about is fall planting. :P Our summers can last well into mid-to late October. I tried snaps one year (November planting) and they did great until we had a spate of unseasonably hot weather. They looked like wilted lettuce. :/

I did make a commitment this past spring to resurrect a monarch butterfly garden with assorted milkweed plants (a very generous local GWer was giving away free seed by the envelope-ful). I started a bit late and had to rush the cold stratification process. And then we got all that flooding rain, so I really don't know how many seeds just plain washed away. I do have one potted milkweed that's doing great -- 18" tall. I'm nervous about transplanting into the beds as it has a very long taproot I don't want to damage; but I also can't commit to hand watering every day this summer.

Thanks mzk. They look better already after adding some sun and soil. The soil was very saturated from rain. I think you're right about too many plants per pot. Not sure how many are in there. I'd be surprised if there were more than three.

Javiwa, you sound like a much more diverse gardener than me. I've grown very few plants from seed. Columbine is pretty much it.

Both regular garden impatiens and New Guinea impatiens are full shade plants that need lots of water. A couple feedings of liquid fertilizer will promote bloom.

If they are too crowded yes, they will quit blooming. You were right to add soil.

As heat increases there in zone 8 you may find that they collapse and die if you leave them in the sun too long. They just can't take direct sun.

I thought they needed morning sun to set buds. The roots filled the pot, so I hope they don't stop blooming due to overcrowding. This is only the first day of summer and I thought these babies would bloom until October.

They've had one watering with Miracle Gro, but then we had a few days of rain and were too wet. I'll give them some more on their next watering. Thanks!

I plant my impatiens on the north side of the house in a window planter that never gets direct sunlight and they bloom their little hearts off. I apply liquid fertilizer every once in a while.

This pic shows mine a couple of years ago in full shade in hanging baskets. They were impatiens I started from seed and it was early in the season when the pic was taken, so not in full bloom yet, but they bloomed like crazy later.

tj