Plant Profile: Impatiens

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ABC Wednesday follows the alphabet and uses a letter each week for participants to come up with all sorts of things that start with that letter.  I’ve been following a gardening theme  which gives me a chance to review various plants and decide if I will add them to the garden again if they are annuals or decide if they were in the right place if they are perennials.

This week the letter is I and I’ve chosen impatiens also called busy Lizzie.

impatiencefrontchair1

Our house faces north so I need to get shade loving plants if I want any blooms or colour at the front.  Impatiens grow really well in big pots by the front door.  I buy a tray of bedding plants from the local nursery.  Did you know the closer you plant the impatiens the taller they will grow?  Each bloom is about 2 to 3 cm. across.  If they get a bit ‘leggy’ later in the season, just snip off a bit and it should encourage some new growth.

impatiens2a

A lot of the north facing garden is planted with hosta, bleeding heart, solomon seal and trillium.  Each only blooms for a brief time so I love pots of impatiens to move around the garden to give some extra colour (even though I usually choose white).  They love lots of water so I’m watering them daily because pots dry out quick.

tipsyimpatiens1a   impatiens02aaa

One of my favourite displays for impatiens is in the tipsy pots.  A few years ago I had an old wicker shelf that sat to the back of the garden against a tree.  Pots of impatiens grew really well in there.  The shelf gradually fell apart and eventually ended up in the burning barrel.  I’ll have to keep a look out for something similar this year at garage sales as it was a lovely display area in the garden.

sign02

A cute little sign that I found at a dollar store a few years ago is a fun plant poke in a pot of impatiens.  I think I’m losing my patience waiting for spring!  How about you?

I’m sharing with ABC Wednesday and Signs, Signs.

more plants … seed info … veggies & herbs … bulbs, corms, tubers

 

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