impatiens and hostas

[FreakyCola]

Someone once told me you should not plant impatiens around hostas. I used to all the time and never had a problem. They said there was a disease the impatiens would give to the hostas. Does anyone have any knowledge of this?
Ellen

[ViolaAnn]

I do it regularly. But last year there was a fungus that attacked the impatiens all over the city of Ottawa. I haven't heard that it would be a problem for hostas though.

[Tigger]

The impatiens blight, a form of downy mildew which has ravaged gardens through most of North America, affects only the old-style impatiens (not the New Guinea impatiens or perhaps the hybrids of "African" impatiens in yellow and orange colors). This blight affects no other plants. http://www.gardensalive.com/article.asp?ai=1211

Sadly the spores of the blight persist in the soil for years. If you planted impatiens and they got the blight (whether brought in on the plants or by infection of wind-blown mold spores), you can't plant impatiens there again. Who knows how long it will be before the spore dispersal slows enough to make it a safe bet to plant them again (a decade?). You might have some luck if you grow your own plants from seed and live in an area isolated from other gardeners.

David

[rufie98]

Wow. I had not heard of impatiens blight, but I had wondered what happened to some of my impatiens last year. I couldn't quite figure it out. Well, now I know. Thanks Ann and David. It's such a shame, as I really like the look of impatiens and I have a lot of shaded areas.

[FreakyCola]

Thanks Tigger. That article was really interesting. I had impatiens in pots last year but nothing in the ground and they didn't die so I should be okay. It will be interesting to see if walmart sells them this year. I'm hoping for a better year at work. They had people from the company that provides Walmart their flowers come and speak to us about plants and they will have 3 different representatives that will pop in and out weekly to help us. Their job sounds pretty cool.
They travel to all the Walmarts in their area. 1 guy said he drove across states checking on different stores. Wish I'd known about this impatiens thing so I could ask them if they were going to sell them.
I'll definitely ask our customers if their's died last summer.
Ellen