Impatiens

My yard is sooooo shady!

How shady is it?

Glad you asked.

There are a few spots that get afternoon sun, but for the most part, it's all shade, all the time.

I foolishly tried to grow tomatoes my first year at the house. The vines ran everywhere, but made only four tomatoes.

The next year I tried cherry tomatoes. I got perhaps twenty from six plants.

Plants that like some sun tend not to survive in my yard. Before they expire they grow tall and spindly. Even plants that like shade have a hard time. My azaleas don't do quite right, more's the pity, and most of my rhododendrons have died.

But impatiens, or at least the impatiens one finds at Lowe's and Home Depot thrive. They run riot in my window boxes from the time the weather warms until the first heavy frost-- usually in early to mid December.

They get a little leggy late in the season, but mostly what one sees is a mass of red and pink and white blooms.

Happily, impatiens are inexpensive. This year I picked up six packs for a dollar each at Home Depot, then grabbed more at Lowe's, where they were only fifty cents. I add a little fertilizer to the soil in the boxes, scoop out and hole, drop in a plant, and cover, water, and stand back.

In window boxes impatiens can get thirsty during the hot dry Atlanta summer, but they revive nicely when given a drink.

If you're looking for pretty, inexpensive blooms for ground cover or for planters, you could do worse than impatiens.