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Just found out today about a fungus that is infecting bedding impatiens all over the country. It kills impatiens and it can't be fixed with any remedy at this time. If you search for impatiens 2012 fungus online there are plenty of articles on it. My local nursery told me about this problem which started down south and is spreading nationwide.

thanks for the heads-up, Paws.... this is something we needed to be aware of!...

Oh, no, one of my favorites. I plant a lot of the sun tolerant ones. I was thinking about taking in cuttings this year to overwinter. Do you think that is a bad idea now?

I don't know--just found out about it at a workshop yesterday. Check out the stuff online. I was told that even if the nursery provided healthy plants, the fungus can travel 500-600 miles and infect the healthy ones in your yard. Since I plant lots of impatiens this is a real blow to my garden. It's a fungus that supposedly involves the genetic makeup so they will have to develop strains that are resistant to the fungus which will take lots of time. It does not infect new guinea impatiens which of course are much more expensive.

I used to be a fan of impatiens but then discovered annual begonia and would never go back to them. Begonia has it all over impatiens.

This is the 1st year I haven't had impatiens. I usually have tons of them, but for some reason they didn't appeal to me this year. Now, we'll have to wait to see what kind of resistant impatiens they'll come up with.

Thanks for the info.

I'll go back and check, but I think I read that the sun impatiens don't get it... and neither do the New Guineas.....

"Outbreaks of downy mildew have been confined to Impatiens walleriana, the common bedding busy Lizzie. No cases have been found on New Guinea impatiens, Impatiens × hawkeri, or on the few species of Impatiens found growing in the wild in the UK including Himalayan balsam (Impatiens glandulifera)."

http://apps.rhs.org.uk/advices...profile.aspx?pid=205

one of the links here....

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&s...7fb&biw=1350&bih=583

....mentions that the impatiens with the little double flowers that look like roses are vulnerable to the fungus, too....and goes on to say in a couple years it should be okay to try them again.....

Good to know, Toots, thanks.

I have New Ginue and sun Impatiens. Have 2 of the double rose ones. Still unsure if I will take cuttins or not.

You could take cuttings and see what happens next year. If your impatiens had the fungus they would die back in a short period of time. Why not try?

sounds like a plan.

I bought some this year for the first time in many, many years. I put them in hanging pots. They didn't get a fungus but I had something eat the daylights out of them...stripped them right down to just stems in a couple of days!
So mine got thrown out about 3 wks ago.

ga.karen, I think the stripped ones would have grown new leaves, given some time. At least, mine come back after being munched on...........

I finally pulled out all my impatiens. They were like skeletons of branches - no leaves. I've never had that happen before and then my niece called the State of Connecticut and found out about the problem with the impatiens. I didn't know it was all over the country. And it was such a reliable, showy flower. I used it greatly all around my house. Linda

quote:

Originally posted by CynthiaJoy:
ga.karen, I think the stripped ones would have grown new leaves, given some time. At least, mine come back after being munched on...........

CJ, they would wilt every morning and I had to water them EVERY day instead of every other day like the rest of my plants...so I wasn't really impressed how they did for me down here in our heat.