I'd love some advice too! I tried to winter sow it last year with no success. I had great success doing the balsam impatiens, but not regular ones. I've read a couple postings here that say you really have to start them under lights. I'd rather not do that as I've gotten away from lights. Any thoughts?

me to, i was going to do these,come one you exparts,we need help here.:0)

I have Ws them in the past. They took a long time to get going here in Oregon. Didn't get a very good % of germination. I really had to baby them along. Make sure your temps have warmed up or they won't germinate or grow.. The ones I did get going,though, were beautiful.
good luck!

I've heard from a few people in the past that it's actually much easier to just purchase impatients from your local garden center or Home Depot because of the fact that they take so long to grow and by the time they really begin to take off, the summer is just about over.

I've also read that germination isn't as good as it is with other annuals and perennials. This may be the one plant that I actually purchase, only because I have a small bed around my flag pole in front of my house that I would like to fill in with some shade annuals and don't really want to wait that long for them to grow.

ditto what mnwsgal said - I do mine mid April and wait for blooms. It's worth the wait and saves a whole lot of $$$

Carrie

The first year I had awful results - I think I got one or two seedlings in a container that I had put in my "Last Chance Alley", the area where the no-germination containers go. By the end of the season I noticed two impatiens in there.

But last year I had wonderful success. I sowed three containers of 36 seeds each. I got 30 seedlings in one, 32 in another, and 27 in the third container.

I sowed them on 3/22 and got germination on 4/22, 4/25, and 4/29.

The impatiens grew well and lasted very long. I plan on doing lots more this year.

:)
Dee

My mother claimed that a friend of hers has a garden with impatiens growing by self-seeding, in a mossy, shady townhouse garden surrounded by a wrought-iron fence.

Sounds beautiful, but I can't believe this could really be impatiens in our Zone 7 area!

Has anyone ever heard of self-seeding impatiens? Or did Mom get the plant name wrong?

I guess it was 9 or 10 years ago that I had impatiens self-seed in a trough under a tree; it was in zone7 in a yard located about a mile from Barnegat Bay, about 40 miles north of Atlantic City NJ. I don't know if that was unusual. I got 1 or 2 plants where there had been a whole trough-full the year before.

I didn't start WS'ing until '01-02 here in S Central PA, and I never started plants from seed before that, so I don't have any other experiences with impatiens, but I have some seeds for pink doubles that I plan to sow in March.

Mary

Hi tansy moon,

I used to plant impatiens around one of my hosta beds every year. One year mine self-sowed here in Zone 5. It was probably late summer before they bloomed but they did grow and bloom.

I've had good germination from Balsam Impatiens and Balfour's Impatiens. I have not really tried to get any Impatiens Walleriana to grow from seed simply because they are so easy to propagate from cuttings.
I overwinter one or two plants of each color (be sure to check for pests first- esp. spider mites.) As they get spindly, I just keep taking cuttings where I can. Things don't root as well late December- late Feb around here, but there's still plenty of rooting time before and after that. New growth starts at the base of the host plant and I have a bunch of new ones to put in the ground as soon as the frost is over.
Another factor is I sometimes rely on impatiens for immediate color in the garden while other things are just waking up from winter. Impatiens walleriana are so tough that they don't seem to mind being taken out of the ground again and put into pots later in the season as the other plants spread.

That and Coleus are the two type of plants I start in my basement. I put out around 500 Impatiens and 100 Coleus so I want them early and full.

In areas where I plant impatiens (and put out at least a couple of flats every year) and don't mulch, I often get self sowed plants blooming late the next summer. But as others have mentioned, they don't tend to bloom until very late in the summer; they are rarely as full as what I buy by the flat; and they do not come true to color. Where I mulch, they don't tend to come up self sown.

In my zone, I cannot imagine Ws'ing impatiens. They like it warm and humid. Which for here is around July.
Last year I started the seeds on the mantle above the wood burning fireplace insert. Got 90% germination and moved to the basement light set up. They grew like mad, so I brought them up to a South facing window.
Wanting stocky plants I started pinching and poking a small propagation box. I ended up with 125 plants from 18 seedlings! That's took so much time, I am waiting to start them in a few days this year.

Really? You can ws impatiens in Hennepin County?

You've just given me a new experiment to try. I don't necessarily buy my flats until they're on sale in June anyway because I fill in with pansies until then, but if that works, that would be cool.

OTOH, one year I scored flats of impatiens at 90% off at one of our garden centers - I'm not sure that I could purchase seed and soil for that price. I have it down to a 2-week window in which to find them at that discount.

I've had impatiens reseed here. I didn't think it was all that unusual. Guess I'm lucky! :)

Dee

Get out Dee! Wish I could do that trick in Pa, lol.
Maybe your in one of those micro climates like the 7 ft rosemary I saw outside in Germantown, Phila, Pa.. didn't think that was possible either!
If you read this link again Dee, when do you start your lobelia?

I don't ws impatients because it is too easy to grow inside from seed. Last year I sowed seeds in midle of march in egg carton and it came up very well. I did not put it under the light also but kept it on window sill and it did well. It was getting only two three hrs. of sun light. They even began to bloom inside.

Here is the pic of impatients and petunia together:
{{gwi:356779}}

tansymoon,impatiens self sows for me in zone 7.I have 3 areas that has come back for the last 3 yrs from some I planted in 2004.This yr.I am going to direct sow and spring sow some in late March for my shade garden.jas,now I know what to do with my egg cartons.thanks.
moonphase

Okay, I'm convinced, I am going to try winter sowing some impatiens this year, I may even sow some indoors on my window sill too, but I am going to try them and plan on sowing a lot in hopes that I will get good germination.

Now I just need to find some seeds, I would like to try sowing the envoy impatiens, anyone ws this particular kind?

It will save me a lot of money if they germinate and if they do, I plan on growing some in hanging bags on the fence in front of my house along with planting them around my flag pole.

Thanks everyone for all your responses, I'm psyched now!

Linda

busylizzy, I'm still trying to figure out how you know I WS lobelia, lol! But anyway, last year I sowed three different kinds of lobelia on March 8th. I had very good germination - 40 to 48 seedlings in each container out of approximately 50 seeds in each container.

Gee, a 7-foot rosemary?!

:)
Dee

Diggerdee,
I found out you start lobelia via Ws'ing from a post you listed numerous plants in the cutting garden forum.
Yep, a 7ft rosemary, I was on a tour at historical places and the one had gardens, as I was standing in line to enter the house. I called for one of the volunteers when I saw the rosemary, as I was in dis belief! He confirmed, then we all discussed how that plant could overwinter so well.
Came to the conculsion it was in a protected area by a shed