Thanks Frank, more great advise from you . . . as always. Gonna jump right to that. Every little thing I can do to help them along. That sure is a stunning flower !! From a leaf to that in just 5 months. . . WOW ! Could you please read my reply to your comment about the lop-sided plant. Was wonderin if I could remove longer, older, bigger leaves now while in bloom. Minimac, thank you for the praise. Posting pics isn't hard, and I would love to see what you have. Yes those AV's from my clients house are still hangin in there, still bloomin. I did notice the other day that they were standing in water, she musta decided to water them for a change. I did dump the water out of them, I swear she is so neglegent when it comes to her plants, and yet they seem to preform for her (flower) nothing spectacular when it comes to the main plant. She has a sunroom full plants that I'd love to get my hands on. Her 5 hoyas are so dry that if you blew into the pot you'd cause a dust storm, and they all bloom!!! But the leaves are whithered, pale and straggley. She has two huge ponytail palms that could be beautiful if only. . . a little tlc. Ya I think you're probably right about wicking the AV's. I may do it just for convience sake. I use a piece of panyhose, that's what my gramma did, so that's what I did. I may even wick the mammas. Still can't believe they are doing so well in a bright north window, but they are. I'll be sure to post when the leaves get their mouse ears, and when my babies have flowers.

I bet you have grubs in the soil. Grubs eat the roots from the bottom up, they eat until about 1/4" from the top of the root. The plant looks like it's withering from loss of water, then just falls over on its side. You pick it up and there's just a little bit of root still attached. I'm in Ohio and grubs are an absolute pain here. I used Nematodes from Gardens Alive and got rid of them. Look at their website and follow their application directions. They are natural microscopic critters and they eat the grubs. They are beneficial and at their application rates and dont seem to cause longer term problems. I had to apply them for about two seasons - I did it in the spring and I havent had a problem since. You can get a feeling for how bad they are when you plant the annuals in the spring if you hit a lot you need to treat them. THe house moved into had really bad soil and had never been planted. New garden locations can get infestations. Once you get a more healthy, organic base, it seems to be less of a problem. I really is frustrating though - I hope this helps!

It's hard to say if your impatiens will be killed. It depends on how soon your tree fills in & provides some shade. I have a flowerbed with the same problem. Certain times it gets too much shade for flowers that need sun, but other times it get too much sun for shade flowers. If your impatiens don't work out there, some alternative ideas are geraniums, coleus, & dusty millers. Those do well in the sun or the shade. I have had good luck with them.

I live in New Zealand and have fought a real battle to grow these plants. We are equvalent to US zone 9, temperate climate. They are susceptible to sudden collapse and root rot, as well as botrytis. They flower like mad if kept slightly pot bound and exposed to lots of direct morning sun. Be careful though as too pot bound impedes drainage and very quickly causes stem rot in these plants. The key seems to be lots of water but with excellent drainage and drier when it is cool. Fallen leaves and flowers causes botrytis almost overnight, so keep the plant clean. A systemic fungicide solved my problems with the Guinea Impatiens and the wilt or sudden collapse problems. Our southern hemisphere midday+ sun is much to bright for them in summer, so they are kept partially shaded in afternoons. They won't flower in full shade, get leggy and eventually collapse. They love misty fine rain in our hot/dry summer and lots of water. I water mine with tepid-warm water like you do with African violets, so as not to shock the plant with sudden cold. Our winters can be rather cold and very wet, so I keep them indoors but fairly close to a window with sun/lots of light and reasonably dry, but never arid to the point where they wilt. I had two 3-year old plants in buckets which flowered beautifully and were fairy large, but they were hit by a rogue frost, albiet a light one and died virtually that day. Each colour of the Guinea Impatiens seems to have different hardiness. The purple colour is by far the strongest and easiest to grow in my opinion, while I find red and white more difficult. Pink is also easy to flower, big blooms but a much smaller plant. Odd eh. Even with failures, I keep buying these plants because they are just so lovely.