Impatiens Bounce and SunPatiens

* Common name: Impatiens Bounce and SunPatiens

* Botanical name: Impatiens hybrids

* What it is: Impatiens used to be America’s No. 1-selling type of summer shade flower until a deadly powdery mildew disease hit in 2012. The disease sticks around in the soil and kills most kinds of impatiens, rendering most of our old favorites poor risks. However, New Guinea impatiens (bigger and more upright) and several newly developed hybrids have proven to be resistant to the disease. Bounce and SunPatiens are the two most common lines of mildew-resistant hybrids you’ll find in garden centers. They look more like old-fashioned impatiens than New Guinea impatiens, come in a range of colors, and bloom heavily until frost kill them in fall.

* Size: Bounce and SunPatiens varieties typically grow 18 to 24 inches tall and wide. Big Bounce is a similar line that can grow taller, typically to about 30 inches.

* Where to use: Due to higher cost than older impatiens, these are best used in shady to partly shaded pots or spotted in partly shaded gardens. Bounce and SunPatiens are more tolerant of full sun, though, than older “bedding” impatiens. If cost is not a limiter, these are gorgeous when massed 2 feet apart.

* Care: Plant out after danger of frost passes in spring (mid-May or after). In a pot, water daily when it doesn’t rain, and fertilize with a half-strength flower fertilizer every two weeks. In the ground, fertilize monthly with a balanced, organic, or long-acting granular fertilizer formulate for flowers. Yank after frost kills plants in fall.

* Great partner: In a pot, they’re hefty enough to stand alone. In the ground, they pair nicely with rounded evergreens, such as boxwoods or azaleas.