If I asked you if you would like a rose for the morning-sun, afternoon-shade garden you would say yes. If I said this rose also had no thorns or disease pressures from black spot and powdery mildew, you no doubt would be getting out the check card. Yet this is precisely what the rose form impatiens offer to each and every one of us who gardens.

Words like Rockapulco, Fiesta and Fiesta Ole need to be on everyone’s list of flowers when springtime finally arrives. These are varieties of some of the most beautiful impatiens available and each flower forms a small, perfect rose.

Today, most rose form impatiens are propagated vegetatively and have been put through a rigorous screening program for any unseen diseases. The results have been phenomenal with impatiens that now produce huge rose-form flowers in abundance and put on a terrific landscape display.

They are also well suited to large containers and window boxes, where they form huge mounds of blooms and leaves. They really liven up a porch, patio or deck in areas receiving filtered light.

The Fiesta Series with 16 colors, the compact Fiesta Ole with eight colors and the award-winning Rockapulco series with eight colors have captured the lion’s share in today’s market place.

These plants have the capability of showing out in your landscape from May until the first frost, so give them a proper home. Choose a site with morning sun and afternoon shade or high-filtered shade. Prepare your bed by incorporating 3 to 4 inches of organic matter to raise the beds and give good drainage.

As you till, work in two pounds of a slow-release balanced fertilizer per 100 square feet of bed space. These plants get large, reaching 24 inches in height and as wide. Set out at the proper spacing and plant at the same depth they were growing in the container.

Impatiens combine wonderfully with caladiums which have the same water and light requirement. Try white caladiums with red veins with red impatiens. Try bold drifts of pink rose form impatiens planted with Japanese painted fern and you’ll have a show that will leave your visitors speechless.

These rose form impatiens are so beautiful they really deserve to also be in containers on the porch or patio. Use them as a monoculture as the only plant or elegantly mixed with other flowers and foliage where they will stand out like the crown jewels.

Keep them mulched, watered and fed every six to eight weeks with light applications of a slow-release balanced fertilizer containing minor nutrients. Taking care of them during late summer pays huge dividends with color all fall.