Busy Lizzies

[Judy42teddy]

How do I keep them, I have had several (Indoor variety)and once bloomed they seem to die. Help

[Buenchico]

I'm not a gardener but I know enough to know that all the varieties of Impatiens (the Busy Lizzies) are annuals and not perennials. This means they are like the 'bedding plants' which your local council put in flower beds in parks, on roundabouts, etc. i.e. they grow, they flower and then they die. (Perennials, on the other hand, are plants which flower many times before they die).

So what's the solution? Just keep taking cuttings. Taking cuttings from Busy Lizzies is easier than persuading rabbits to breed. If you've got a couple of plants now you should expect to have several dozen by this time next year. (I used to supplement my income as a teenager by selling Busy Lizzies I'd grown form cuttings. I sold hundreds of them - all cultivated from a single cutting an aunt gave to me).

Chris

[Bravo Girl]

Several possible reasons here. Lack of water, they are thirsty little devils, or maybe sensitive to cold. Did they become very limp and flaccid (lack of water) or turn a horrible colour (frost damage - on a cold windowsill for example) ? What were the symptoms before they went to that great big garden in the sky ?

[jaysplace2]

i have had my bizzie's for over 2 years all i do is nip off orpick the dead petals off and they just keep flowering, and if you chop them right back they will sprout new growth ,,,, very easy to keep ....

[Judy42teddy]

I would like to thank all the people that took the trouble to answer my question.