It’s seed ordering time again, and I feel very unprepared. I was so disgusted with the growing season last summer that I barely made any notes in my garden journal. That means I have very few hints about what I should grow this year. Last summer was so very wet and humid that almost every one of my plants developed some sort of disease or was ravaged by insects. I vowed to give them all the benefit of the doubt, but that’s not helping me now when I need to decide what to order.
There was at least one bright spot in the midst of all the powdery mildew and earwig attacks. The ‘Xtreme Lilac’ Impatiens I sprouted from seed performed beautifully. I usually buy impatiens from a garden center, but every once in awhile I get the urge to sprout my own plants so I can choose the exact colors I want to grow.
‘Xtreme Lilac’ impressed me right off the bat with 100% germination. When I carefully tucked the seedlings into my planters and barrels in May, they quickly established themselves and started blooming right away. Most impressively they never got spindly or leggy. Here’s a photo of what they looked like in mid-September:
The plants grow about 10 inches high (although some of mine grew over a foot tall) with particularly large flowers for impatiens (2.5 inches). And the best part is that they were not at all bothered by the dreadful weather or the munching insects.
Now I just have to decide if I’m going to stick with lilac or choose another gorgeous color from the series.