What it is
Impatiens (Impatiens walleriana) is in the Balsaminaceae family. The go-to shade flower for nonstop color where sun-lovers won't bloom. Roots readily from cuttings.
How to grow it
It wants shade to part shade, water it moderate to high, and give it rich, moist soil. Target a soil pH around 6.0-7.0. Space plants about 10-12 in apart. Expect roughly Cuttings root. Tender; grown as annual.
How it's used
Impatiens is used: ornamental.
🔎 How to identify it
- Soft oval toothed leaves
- Succulent translucent stems
- Flat five-petal flowers
Edibility
How to grow & propagate impatiens
Everything I've worked out about starting this one, keeping it alive through a Texas year, and turning one plant into many — free.
How to propagate impatiens
Impatiens is grown from seed. Start it in the season it favors, keep the seedbed evenly moist until it's up, and thin to give each plant room to size up.
Growing impatiens in Texas
Give it shade to part shade and rich, moist soil. Match the spot to the plant and most of the battle is already won.
Time your planting to our long warm season and watch the frost dates at both ends; the live weather tool on this site is built for exactly that.
In a container it'll dry faster than in the ground, so check the top inch of soil daily in summer; pots on a hot Texas patio can need water every single day.
Harvesting
Figure on roughly cuttings root before you're harvesting. Pick herbs in the morning after the dew dries for the strongest oils, and harvest little and often — regular cutting keeps a herb bushy and stops it bolting. The part you're after: not grown for eating.
Making more for free
If you want more, let your healthiest plants mature fully and collect the seed once it's dry on the plant — then store it somewhere cool, dark, and dry until next season.
Part of the free Texas Roots plant database, compiled by Jordan Polasek from his greenhouse in El Campo, Texas. Free to read and share. If it helped, the best thanks is to grow something.