When I first started gardening many years ago, impatiens was a greenhouse flower, not in much use by the ordinary gardener. It was not common in the garden except in moist climates, was a sprawling plant, and had a limited color range. But all that has changed, and the only old characteristic it maintains is that it’s one of the best flowers we can grow in the shade. Now the plants are compact, the color range has broadened, we can grow it anywhere in the summertime, and although it’s a perennial, it’s usually grown as an annual. But in warm winter climates, it will often live over the winter to flower in abundance again.

And its popularity can be measured by the number of varieties available—Park Seed Company’s seed catalog lists two and a half pages of impatiens. The color range runs the gamut of pastels in rose, pink and white, and strong, solid colors in burgundy, lilac, red, orange, white, blue and many variations such as cranberry, salmon, blush pink and some bicolors.

What the new impatiens has done for us in the past 30 or 40 years is to make available a plant that blooms well in the shade, something that’s hard for most plants to do. And it blooms abundantly, making a good show in a border, a massed planting and in a container placed in the shade.

Most impatiens are single flowered, but there are some double varieties, not quite as pretty, I think, the flowers are getting bigger and now most varieties have flowers that are two inches wide and more. Plants range from 10 to 15 inches tall and usually spread well, to around 15 inches. This means when setting plants in you need to keep in mind the size and plant them far enough apart.

Good varieties to look for are the Accent Hybrids, with a good range of colors and a mixture. Bruno is a fairly new one, tetraploid instead of diploid, giving it somewhat more vigor and better blooms. Park Seed Co. lists Sunny Lady, said to do well in more sun (probably not the kind of sun we have in Southern California), and Shady Lady, a very good mixture and a strong grower.

Tempo Hybrids spread a little more than some, and has a good color range. The Swirl Hybrids have a two toned look—the petal edges are one color and the center is a contrasting pastel.

You may find many of these impatiens varieties as started plants in the nursery and garden center and most seed racks have one or two varieties, catalogs many more. If planting from seed keep in mind that impatiens needs light to germinate, so don’t cover the seed. Impatiens can be started from seed this month and on through the early summer, plants can be set in anytime except in the winter.