Colorful impatiens!
Planting, Growing, and Caring for Impatiens
The Almanac Garden Planner - Use It Free for 7 Days!
Plan your 2025 garden with our award-winning Garden Planner.
Impatiens are one of the rare annual plants that will provide colorful blooms in shady gardens—so they’re also perfect for hanging baskets or containers on porches. Learn how to plant, grow, and care for impatiens.
About Impatiens
Impatiens are very popular as both a bedding and hanging plant. Also called “Busy Lizzies,” these beauties are low-maintenance and don’t even need pinching! The genus name, Impatiens, is a Latin word describing how its seeds shoot out of its pods when ripe (the slightest touch can make a ripe impatiens seed pod burst open and scatter its contents).
Ornamental impatiens are primarily from two groups, Impatiens walleriana and New Guinea impatiens, Impatiens hawkeri. The two look different, but growing them is pretty much the same. I. wallerina cultivars are less tolerant of sunshine than the New Guinea hybrids, and the latter has larger foliage.
Of short to medium height, most impatiens varieties grow 8 to 15 inches tall, although some types reach 30 inches. They are perennials in frost-free areas but are grown as annuals or houseplants everywhere else.
Use impatiens for a splash of all-season color in any area that receives partial shade. Because of their shallow root system and low height, impatiens are ideally suited to containers like hanging baskets, window boxes, or deck railing planters. They also work well in the “filler” role in larger containers.
Growing
Impatiens are not fussy and, if planted in the correct location, will thrive with little effort–one of the reasons they are popular.
- The most important thing to remember about impatiens is to water them regularly. Keep the soil moist but not too wet. If the plants dry out, they will lose their leaves. If you over-water the plants, it encourages fungal diseases.
- Container-grown impatiens will benefit from fertilizer applied every two weeks when watering.
- Deadheading, while not strictly necessary, will improve their appearance and encourage more blooms.
Overwintering Impatiens
Impatiens are hardy in zones 10-12, but even a light frost will kill them. If you have a favorite color you’d like to overwinter, either take cuttings or dig up the plant and bring it inside. Depending on your available sunlight and day length, a grow light may be necessary.
Propagating Impatiens
Impatiens can be easily propagated from stem cuttings–a great way to get more of a favorite color or gift it to a friend. At the end of the growing season, taking cuttings and growing them over the winter may be easier than digging up entire plants and trying to keep them alive in the house.
- Inspect your plant to make sure it is pest-free.
- Sanitize your shears with alcohol.
- Choose several strong stems and snip them 4-6 inches below the bloom.
- Remove the flower and all but the upper one or two pairs of leaves.
- Place the cuttings in a clear glass container filled with clean water. If your water is treated by your municipality, let the water sit on the counter for 24 hours first to allow most of the chemicals to dissipate.
- In a week or two, when fine white roots appear, transition the cuttings to the soil in one of two ways:
- Plant them in individual pots filled with moist potting mix.
- Add a bit of potting mix to your glass container daily until it is completely filled with soil after a week. After filling the jar with soil, remove the plants and repot.
- Lollipop series (I. walleriana) ‘Fruit Punch Rose’ is a compact, well-branched variety with superbly vivid colors.
- Tom Thumb Series (I. balsamina) is a dwarf variety with large, double, brightly colored flowers.
- Beacon® impatiens are highly resistant to downy mildew and will keep blooming reliably until frost.
- Swirl Series (I. walleriana) has pretty pink and orange flowers with petals in red.
Andy Wilcox
ADVERTISEMENT
There are green caterpillars feeding on my impatiens leaves. I am not sure how to get rid of them. Could you please help ?
I tried spraying water + dish soap on the leaves but does not seem to be helping.
I have an east facing sunny balcony on a 12th floor high-rise. How far apart should I plant my sunpatiens in my hanging window boxes?
SunPatiens grow 24 to 36 inches (61 to 92 centimeters) tall and wide. So, plant or hang at least 40 inches apart to give the plants circulation.
I have Sun Impatience and they look like the have been bleached in areas. I picked all of them off and yellowing leaves. They still grew back with the bleach flowers. I would love to know what to do. Thank you!
Although Sun impatiens (“SunPatiens”) are better suited for areas with more sun, they are not immune to sun damage. It’s possible that yours are in too sunny of a spot, so transplanting to an area that gets part sun might help them out. Alternatively, yellow or whitish leaves can be cause by over- or underwatering. Are yours in a particularly wet or dry spot? This could also be the cause of your off-color leaves and blooms.
During this summer my mother bought a hanging impatient bag which looked beautiful half way through the summer. About 2 weeks ago the dark green leaves began to wilt around the edges with only a little brown on the leaves down in the bag. Some stems have only a few leaves as though a bug might have eaten them. I did see a couple ants inside the bag. The plant is watered adequately and hangs on the porch away from the sun. I was thinking there is a household solution that can be sprayed on it besides removing most of leaves which would be quite a few. Is there a specific bug that attack these plants?
Hi, I loved my impatiens hanging outside on my back door. The soil is moist by not wet. It has lost it's leaves and flowers. No bugs insight either. ?
Usually, this is related to a pot that doesn’t drain well which leads too root rot but it sounds like you don’t have that problem. Plants also wilt because they’re stressed by heat. Are your impatiens getting too much sun?
I bought a "dying" plant for 1/2 price. Put it in a pot of water and fertilizer, and sat it in a sunny cool window. This morning it is completely alive and has blooms! If you think a plant is dead or dying, Google it before you toss it.
my hanging impatien ( believe it is s. american) was overwintered in a patio closet. i wonder if it will come back.
