New Guinea Impatiens
A popular plant for shady spots, New Guinea impatiens will produce brightly colored blooms from summer to frost. In addition to its flowers, this plant has bold, lustrous foliage that adds a tropical flair to any space.
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Colorful Combinations
New Guinea impatiens is a tropical plant hailing from, you guessed it, New Guinea. It has succulent stems and attractive foliage that both create the perfect backdrop for the large, colorful blooms. There are also many foliage variations of New Guineas.
Related: 36 Great Containers for Gardening
Flowers of New Guinea impatiens are like a maximized version of standard impatiens flowers. Pink, white, lavender, and orange create wonderful palettes to incorporate into your garden. All flowers are composed of five slightly overlapping petals arranged around a small, button-like center. Impatiens also have a flower spur full of nectar, which makes them a favorite of pollinators like moths and butterflies.
New Guinea Impatiens Care Must-Knows
New Guinea impatiens are happiest in part shade with consistently moist soil. If they start to wilt, give them a thorough watering and they should bounce back in a few hours.
Plant New Guinea impatiens in nutrient-rich, well-drained soil. New Guineas aren't spreaders, so they won't take up a lot of space in a garden bed. They mix well with other shade plants, especially those that don't bloom as much because the impatiens flowers will more than make up for any lack of color.
Fortunately, New Guinea impatiens are resistant to downy mildew, which can quickly wipe out other impatiens varieties. Typical garden pests like aphids, thrips, and spider mites are common problems that New Guineas can run into.
More Varieties of New Guinea Impatiens
'Celebration Bright Salmon' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Celebration Bright Salmon' bears bold salmon-pink flowers over dark green foliage. It grows 16 inches tall.
'Celebration Blush Pink' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Celebration Blush Pink' bears large soft-pink flowers over dark green foliage. It grows 16 inches tall.
'Applause Orange Blaze' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Applause Orange Blaze' bears bright orange flowers over variegated foliage. It's more cold tolerant than many other varieties and grows 1 foot tall and wide.
'Celebration Raspberry Rose' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Celebration Raspberry Rose' produces large raspberry-pink flowers over dark green foliage. It grows 16 inches tall.
'Celebration Orange' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Celebration Orange' bears showy orange flowers over dark green foliage. It grows 16 inches tall.
'Celebration Lavender Glow' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Celebration Lavender Glow' bears large lavender-pink flowers over dark green foliage. It grows 16 inches tall.
'Infinity Lavender' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Infinity Lavender' shows off large light lavender-purple flowers all summer and fall. It grows 14 inches tall and wide.
'Celebrette Deep Red' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Celebrette Deep Red' produces rich red flowers that attract hummingbirds over dark green foliage. It grows 10 inches tall.
'Celebrette Purple Stripe' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Celebrette Purple Stripe' produces large purple flowers streaked with white. It grows 10 inches tall.
'Painted Paradise Pink' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Painted Paradise Pink' produces pink blooms over variegated foliage on a compact, 14-inch-tall plant.
'Infinity Cherry Red' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Infinity Cherry Red' shows off eye-catching bright red flowers all summer and fall. It grows 14 inches tall and wide.
'Painted Paradise Lilac' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Painted Paradise Lilac' bears large lilac-color flowers over strongly variegated foliage on a compact, 14-inch-tall plant.
'Paradise Cherry Rose' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Paradise Cherry Rose' shows off vibrant red-pink flowers on a 16-inch-tall plant.
'Painted Paradise White' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Painted Paradise White' is a white-flowering selection with yellow-variegated foliage. It grows 14 inches tall.
'Painted Paradise Red' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Painted Paradise Red' shows off red blossoms and variegated foliage. It grows 14 inches tall.
'Paradise Mango Orange' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Paradise Mango Orange' produces bright orange flowers on a mounding, 16-inch-tall plant.
'Paradise Rose on Violet' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Paradise Rose on Violet' bears lavender-pink flowers striped with rose. It grows 16 inches tall.
'Paradise Lavender on Fuchsia' New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens 'Paradise Lavender on Fuchsia' produces lavender flowers with a fuchsia stripe on each petal. It grows 16 inches tall.
New Guinea Impatiens Companion Plants
Dianthus
The quintessential cottage flower, pinks are treasured for their grasslike blue-green foliage and abundant starry flowers, which are often spicily fragrant. Depending on the type of pink, flowers appear in spring or summer and tend to be pink, red, white, rose, or lavender, but come in nearly all shades except true blue. Plants range from tiny creeping groundcovers to 30-inch-tall cut flowers, which are a favorite with florists. Foliage is blue-green.
Impatiens
What would we do without impatiens? It's the old reliable for shade gardens when you want eye-popping color all season long. The plants bloom in just about every color except true blue and are well-suited to growing in containers or in the ground. If you have a bright spot indoors, you may be able to grow impatiens all year as an indoor plant.
Sweet Potato Vine
Among the most popular container-garden plants, sweet potato vine is a vigorous grower that you can count on to make a big impact. Its colorful foliage, in shades of chartreuse or purple, accents just about any other plant. Grow a few together in a large pot, and they make a big impact all on their own. Sweet potato vines do best during the warm days of summer and prefer moist, well-drained soil. They thrive in sun or shade.
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