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Balsaminaceae
Impatiens (Busy Lizzie)
Impatiens walleriana
Maternal love, motherly tenderness, impatience.
- Family
- Balsaminaceae
- Genus
- Impatiens
- Native to
- East Africa
- Bloom season
- Spring, Summer, Fall
- Type
- tender perennial (grown as annual)
- Height
- 15–60 cm
- Sunlight
- Partial to full shade
- Soil
- Rich, moist, well-drained
- Water
- Regular
- Hardiness
- 10–12 (annual)
- Lifespan
- Annual in temperate climates
Did you know
- The name 'Impatiens' refers to the seed pods, which explode at the slightest touch when ripe, flinging seeds up to 6 m away — they're 'impatient' to disperse.
- Impatiens walleriana was the most popular bedding plant in America until 2011, when downy mildew nearly wiped them out — they've since recovered with resistant cultivars.
- New Guinea impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri) was discovered in 1970 by a USDA expedition and is now grown worldwide for its larger flowers and tougher growth.
- Touch-me-not (Impatiens capensis), a native North American species, has long been used as a folk remedy for poison ivy and stinging nettle rashes.
- Bumblebees are the primary pollinators of impatiens — their weight is needed to enter the spurred flowers.