Very nice! It's good to hear about success stories.

Absolutely Gorgeous!!!

pdmd, SP are pretty awesome eh.....given the sun conditions it can take, compare to other 'patiens. I just wish it was a tad cheaper per plant. Maybe it was the time of the season, but I did not see any plug packs on SP

a1an, do you have a grower in your community? The growers, who purchase rooted liners or unrooted cuttings from the producers, have more ability to offer different sizes to their customers. I've never seen cell packs of SunPatiens, either, as they sell so quickly in larger sizes and grow so rapidly.

My local go to nursery usually has a kick off day around the mid-late June timeframe, which is really the time when the temps are right where the annuals start to take off.

Plugs planted early just kinda sit dormant...until the temps kick in. Heh, I am planning to look for packs come Memorial day timeframe just to see if they exist....

I can't recall how much they were per plant, but for sure I know they were not cheap....and then I had to DIG further to see why it was $$$, to discover it was a ~licensed~ plant as well, etc, etc.

I've never really bothered with seeds, (not talking SP but just annuals in general) just short of vegs. But as years go by, and I grow wiser and thriftier, I often say to myself, why not start the annuals from seeds, as that is where a good majority of the spring/summer funding goes...

Well, I kinda doubt that SPs will be available as cell packs or smaller plants. And never from seeds, as you probably know.

There are some nice New Guinea impatiens that are seed propagated, though, if you ever get the urge.

Growing annual transplants from seed is not without some big challenges, that's for sure.

IW was always my go standard - just out of bad habit I suppose. With DM, it forced me to get out of my comfort zone and experiment. Love vinca's for sure. When I order seeds for vinca's next year, planning to order the coral *orange with white center* NG, which is quite lovely as well.

Next up for plugs are both SP and Bounce Impatiens to try and experiment more next season.

You just brought up a point re: annuals from seeds. Prior readings has suggested seed starting was a hit or miss, but after discovering vinca's they sure do seem easy to start. Eh, baby steps on seeds I suppose