Rekindle your romance with impatiens

Steve Kawaratani

“Impatiens ... with rage and hate the astonished groves alarm,

and hurls her infants from her frantic arms.”

-- Erasmus Darwin

“I have learnt to love you late, beauty at once so ancient and so

new!”

-- St. Augustine

Nearly all of us, who partake in gardening, have experienced a

romance with impatiens at one time or another. And why not?

Their bright flowers and easy to grow habit quickly seduces

beginners hungry for success and gardeners who don’t have a lot of

time to spend on cultivating opulent drifts of color.

Of course, we subsequently met and wooed arguably more interesting

plants along the gardening path ... so it is not likely that the more

serious of our brethren would admit to a casual affair with

impatiens. Such an admission would be incongruous with their sleek

German sedans and cottage perennials.

Impatiens belong to the balsam family, represented by nearly 500

species widely distributed throughout the world. Early botanists,

noting that its ripe seed capsules would often burst and jettison

it’s progeny when lightly touched, named it impatiens (Latin for

impatience). This peculiar method of spreading its seeds has earned

it other common names as well ... touch-me-not, snapweed and busy

Lizzie in England.

Our common impatiens held a couple of botanical names until

recently. Joseph Hooker named it I. sultanii, in honor of the Sultan

of Zanzibar in 1865. It was also given the name I. walleriana, for

the African missionary, the Rev. Horace Waller. Because a plant can

only have one botanical name, botanists finally recognized Impatiens

wallerana as the official name.

Although they will tolerate full sunlight in Laguna, impatiens

prefer partial shade. They are useful in providing color when

azaleas, camellias and gardenias are in-between flowering. They also

mix well with begonias, dipladenias, fuchsias, hydrangeas and ferns.

The double varieties produce attractive flowers that look like

miniature rosebuds.

Unless you require “instant color,” I recommend planting impatiens

from color paks (six packs), because of their vigorous growth. Space

plants from six inches to 12 inches apart. Feed the plants every two

weeks with Miracle Gro and keep them pinched back to prevent

leginess. If your plants do overgrow, cut them back to six inches.

New growth will appear in days and the plant will be covered with

flowers in two weeks. Although they are technically a perennial,

Catharine and I generally replant impatiens each spring.

I suppose that if Ted Turner owned a nursery, he would call

impatiens, “America’s Flower,” on HGTV. It is far and away the best

selling bedding plant in Laguna and beyond. And I must admit, it does

everything well and asks for little in return. In fact, with summer

heating up, it’s time to renew your relationship with an old friend.

See you next time.

* STEVE KAWARATANI is a “local” guy, who makes his home with wife,

Catharine Cooper and their two cats. In his spare time he evaluates

view equity and attends fund raisers. He can be reached at (949)

497-2438, or by e-mail at [email protected].