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silva_garden

extremely leggy basket of impatiens - help?

silva_garden
14 years ago

I am just learning to garden, and my husband and I hope to get good at it together! In September I moved from the desert in Eastern Oregon to East Central Massachusetts, so the learning curve is pretty steep for me.

This summer we received a beautiful, huge, fluffy basket of bright pink impatiens, and it sort of took care of itself in a shady spot on the porch for most of the (extremely wet) summer. This autumn, though, I got very busy (we were married in early September in Oregon) and sadly neglected our pretty plant. Now things have calmed down and I am trying to heal this sweet little plant.

It's hanging in there, but it's extremely (extremely!) leggy with very sparse blossoms. A lot of its leaves are yellowing as well. I've been watering it enough to keep the soil moist, and I've kept it in indirect light in a cool place in our foyer.

I got it inside before that freak snowstorm in early October, so it isn't frostbitten, but it's really languishing. I am at a complete loss as to what to do to make it happy again. I'd really love to get it healthy again so that I can keep it for the whole winter and perhaps plant cuttings from it in our garden next spring.

So here are some questions: do you prune impatiens? If so, how? Should I repot it in an even bigger pot, or do I need to just cut it back and let it fluff back up? What about misting, fertilization, and temperature? I don't want to give up on our first plant!

Thank you so much for your help.

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