Question

mystery plant?   My son potted this plant at a nursery nearly seven years ago, and we've never been able to identify it. It doesn't seem to need much sunlight--or water--and has been repotted several times. Every year or so for a few weeks, a purplish flower will bloom here and there. At one point, I tried moving it outside, but it wasn't thriving, so I brought it back indoors where it now sits on the floor in a non-sunlit corner and continues to grow slowly. Many of the larger leaves have developed white spots.
It's probably a fairly common plant, but I can't recall seeing one like it before.

Answer
Hi Tami,

It looks like you have an Impatiens plant. It does well outdoors in warm weather as a shade plant. Direct sunlight is too strong for it. Indoors, it does best right on any sunny windowsill. Repotting tends to discourage flowering so I suggest you keep it in the same pot from now on. Water it when the top quarter of the soil feels dry to the touch.

As Impatiens grow older, they tend to lose their older, lower leaves and eventually look quite leggy. The only remedy for this is pruning back leggy stems to a point on the stem where you would like to see new growth come in. The cuttings can be rooted pretty easily in water and restarted in a new pot once the roots are at least an inch long.

The white spots look like blemishes and not a disease or pest problem.

Please let me know if any of this is unclear or if you have any additional questions.

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Will Creed, Interior Landscaper
Horticultural Help, NYC

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