New Guinea Impatiens

Description:

New Guinea impatiens form compact, succulent subshrubs with branches growing 1 to 2 feet tall by summer's end. Leaves are long and narrow, green, bronze, or purple. Flowers, growing up to 2 inches in diameter, are white, pink, lavender, purple, orange, and red.

Habitat:

Roof top patio

Notes:

New Guinea Impatiens have only recently become popular bedding plants since their introduction to the U.S. in 1972. Most are grown in hanging baskets or as potted plants for transplanting into the landscape or as container plants for the patio or window boxes. The majority of cultivars are currently propagated vegetatively, although seed-propagated cultivars have recently come to the market. The origin of New Guinea Impatiens started with a joint plant collecting expedition by Longwood Gardens and the USDA in 1970. Several plants were brought back form New Guinea and ordinally given separate species names. However, cytogenetic work has shown that they belong to one species (Impatiens hawkeri) but a lot of variation exists within the species. Crosses with additional species form Java and the Celebes islands has lead to the plants in production today.