How to grow busy lizzie (Impatiens walleriana)

Impatiens walleriana · impatiens, sultana

Busy Lizzie (Impatiens walleriana) — shade-loving bedding plant from East Africa grown as an annual, 20–60 cm tall and as wide, with fleshy stems and flat, spurred flowers in white, pink, salmon, red or violet, single or double, from late spring until frost. Busy Lizzie grows best in partial shade. Water it about every 3 days while it grows.

Updated: October 28, 2026

When to sow busy lizzie?

Sow for seedlings about 9 weeks before planting out.

Plant out in open ground about a week after your last spring frost, once the soil is warm.

It flowers about 76 days after the shoots appear and keeps flowering for about 120 days.

Frost dates · When to plant

Quick facts

Type	Flower
Latin name	Impatiens walleriana
Family	Balsaminaceae
Also called	impatiens, sultana
Planted as	seed
How it is started	from seedlings
Life span	grown for one season
Planting season	spring
Light	Partial shade
Frost	does not tolerate frost
Soil for sowing	from 7 °C
Germination	14 days
Seedlings ready	49 days
First flowers	76 days after the shoots appear
Flowering lasts	120 days
Grown in	Open ground, At home

How long does busy lizzie take from sowing to flowering?

From sowing to the first flowers: about 90 days, or 13 weeks.

Step	Day
Sowing	0
Shoots appear	14
Seedlings ready to plant out	63
First flowers	90
End of flowering	210

Days count from the day of sowing or planting, by the figures of the card.

Where does busy lizzie grow?

8,435 records of the plant in gardens, fields and the wild worldwide; most photos come from Brazil, Costa Rica, Colombia, Taiwan, and Tanzania.

World map: where busy lizzie has been recorded — Darker green means more records. Photos are real observations from those countries — tap one to see it. Map and records: GBIF.org (2026-10-28), © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap. Photo: Fernando Junior, Aidan, Jay Paroline, Alfonso Xavier Rolon Perez, Damien Wallace, Светлана Царахова, zemlya, Ong Jyh Seng (CC BY / CC0).

Busy Lizzie, Brazil — Darker green means more records. Photos are real observations from those countries — tap one to see it. Map and records: GBIF.org (2026-10-28), © OpenMapTiles © OpenStreetMap. Photo: Fernando Junior, Aidan, Jay Paroline, Alfonso Xavier Rolon Perez, Damien Wallace, Светлана Царахова, zemlya, Ong Jyh Seng (CC BY / CC0).

Busy Lizzie care by growth stage

Open ground

Stage	Watering	Temperature	Feeding
Seedlings	every 2 days	—	—
Growth	every 3 days	—	balanced (NPK), at the start of the stage
Flowering	every 3 days	—	balanced (NPK), at the start of the stage; balanced (NPK), 30 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 60 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 90 days into the stage

At home

Stage	Watering	Temperature	Feeding
Seedlings	every 2 days	—	—
Growth	every 2 days	—	balanced (NPK), at the start of the stage
Flowering	every 2 days	—	balanced (NPK), at the start of the stage; balanced (NPK), 30 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 60 days into the stage; balanced (NPK), 90 days into the stage

Growing notes

Light

Best in partial to full shade; in strong sun the leaves scorch, so give shelter from hot afternoon sun.

Soil

Rich, moist but well-drained soil with plenty of organic matter, slightly acidic. Under trees it needs extra water and feed because of root competition.

Care

Sow indoors 6–10 weeks before planting out, on the surface — the seed needs light — at 18–24 °C; seedlings take two to three weeks to appear and about three months to flower, so many gardeners buy plants. Plant out once nights stay above 7 °C, 20–25 cm apart for compact kinds; crowded plants grow leggy. Keep the soil moist but never soggy — wilted plants drop leaves and flowers — and feed monthly with a water-soluble fertiliser. It needs no deadheading or pinching; trim leggy plants by a third in late summer. Impatiens downy mildew yellows the leaves, leaves white down beneath them and strips plants bare — buy healthy or resistant plants, water at the base, do not replant impatiens in the same bed next year, and bin (not compost) affected plants. Cuttings root easily and can be overwintered indoors at 10 °C or more.

Pests and diseases of Busy Lizzie

5 problems are recorded for busy lizzie; each has a page with symptoms, treatment and prevention.

Busy Lizzie: all pests and diseases with photos

Diseases

Pests

Plant lists it is in

Part of: Garden flowers · Annual flowers from seed · Long-flowering plants · Flowers for shade

Sources

Figures checked against these sources.