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Our hours for the month of May are

Mon-Fri. 8am - 7:30pm

Saturday 8am-5:30pm

We are Closed on Sunday's

Drawing the Shades on Impatiens,
Shining the Light on Alternatives

                Red, pink, white, purple, orange…summertime in southeastern Pennsylvania has always found row upon row of cheerful impatiens brightening the landscape – until this year. A disease known as Downy Mildew, which has been working its way across the U.S. since 2004, devastated PA’s crop in summer of 2012, and there is no going back. Affecting plants in 32 states and Washington, D.C. by October of last year, this wind-scattered disease quickly defoliates plants and has no easy and affordable solution for the home gardener.
“What now?” This has been the question asked time and again by disease specialists in the industry, greenhouse growers and retailers, and home gardeners. Salesmen working in the horticultural industry for 30+ years have never witnessed a bedding plant crop attacked as quickly and severely as the Impatiens walleriana has been in recent years. Plant growers and retailers have battled the debate of whether to offer a plant that customers obviously want, knowing that it will not thrive, let alone survive. And home gardeners have had to consider alternatives for one of their favorite and easiest to grow flowering plants.
David and Joseph Glick, of Glick’s Greenhouse in Oley, have spent the past 8 months considering this new and unique growing challenge. Online research, in-person conversations with other growers and technical support specialists, and firsthand experience with last year’s crop devastation in both their own and customer flowerbeds led them to the conclusion that they could no longer, at least in good conscience, sell Impatiens walleriana at their greenhouse. This left a gap 50,000 seedlings big in their growing plan for the upcoming spring, which was no small concern.
However, it’s an ill wind that blows no good. Though the spring season has just begun and plants are just beginning to go home with customers, Glick’s Greenhouse is excited about newer offerings that the disappearance of traditional bedding plant impatiens has brought to the forefront. At the top of the list are SunPatiens, an improved type of New Guinea Impatiens (Impatiens hawkeri) that are unaffected by Downy Mildew. Offered as compact, spreading, and vigorously-growing varieties in an assortment of red, pink, white, purple, and orange shades, these are essentially a completely new type of impatiens for the home gardener. First introduced to retail markets in 2009, SunPatiens feature the impressively large blooms of New Guinea Impatiens while thriving in both full sun and part shade. You’ll see them offered at Glick’s Greenhouse this year in deep 4-packs, 1 gallon pots, and a limited selection of hanging baskets and patio pots.
Perhaps the hardest hit niche of Impatiens walleriana’s departure from the market is that of flowering annual for full shade. Glick’s Greenhouse is excited about an expanded selection of colorful cutting coleus being offered in deep 4-packs and 4.5” pots this year. Grown for their foliage instead of their flowers, these coleus display gorgeous combinations of red, pink, green, yellow, and orange in a shade-loving, upright plant. Torenia, another alternative offered in purple, pink, and yellow shades, is Glick’s Greenhouse’s recommendation for a blooming annual that thrives in full to part shade. Featuring a lower-growing, trailing habit, it is available in 4.5” pots and hanging baskets this spring.
While disappointment at losing a plant as well-loved and easy to grow as Impatiens walleriana is unavoidable, David and Joseph Glick look forward to introducing their customers to something new and wonderful because of it. Though not exact replacements for the unique place that bedding plant impatiens have held over the years, SunPatiens, Coleus, and Torenia offer home gardeners a colorful and affordable solution to their disappearance. The Glick’s Greenhouse staff looks forward to talking with and sharing their excitement for a new and different growing year with their customers, so be sure to stop in for a visit soon!

Glick’s Greenhouse
57 Fisher Mill Road
Oley, PA 19547
610-689-9856
 

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