Busy Lizzie / Impatiens

Busy Lizzie Description

Busy Lizzie is a very popular half-hardy annual flowering house plant. It features regularly in pots, containers and hanging baskets.

With small green leaves, masses of white, pink, orange, and red flowers, and a low aspect Impatiens makes excellent ground cover in flower beds and borders.

Busy Lizzies are propagated by seed and cuttings root quite easily. Many gardeners take cuttings from their garden specimens in early autumn for over-wintering indoors.

Cultivation of Busy Lizzie Plants

Busy Lizzie seeds should be sown in early spring under glass at a temperature of 16 to 18 degrees Celsius.

When the seedlings are large enough to be handled plants should be pricked out into boxes about 7cm apart. Following hardening off the young plants should be planted in their final flowering position about 12cm apart.

Impatiens appreciates a sunny location and good soil with adequate drainage. Bushy growth can be encouraged by pinching out of the growing tips.

Busy Lizzie Pests and Diseases

Busy Lizzies can be susceptible to infestations of aphids which can rapidly weaken plants.