Beacon Lighthouse Impatiens Bring Easy Color to Shade Gardens

Beacon impatiens are traditional bedding impatiens that were bred for high resistance to impatiens downy mildew. The Beacon series offers seven different flower colors. Beginning in 2023, gardeners can also find Beacon impatiens offered in three special mixtures, called Beacon Lighthouse. These mixed impatiens make it easy to add diverse but coordinating colors to shade beds and containers while avoiding impatiens downy mildew, too.

Each Beacon Lighthouse mix is named for a famous lighthouse. There's Beacon Lindau, named for Germany's Lindau Lighthouse. Beacon Lindau includes orange, white and violet flowers. Beacon Portland, named for the Portland Bill Lighthouse in Dorset, England, includes rose, white and violet. Beacon Sanibel honors Florida's Sanibel Island Light and includes red, orange and violet.

Common name: Beacon Lighthouse impatiens

Botanical name: Impatiens walleriana 

Exposure: Part sun to full shade

Flowers: Single (five-petaled) impatiens appearing throughout summer. Beacon impatiens are self-cleaning; that is, they do not need deadheading to continue blooming. 

Foliage: Rounded and medium green, with high resistance to impatiens downy mildew

Habit: Beacon Lighthouse impatiens grow in a mounded shape 14 to 18 inches tall and 12 to 14 inches wide.

Origin: Beacon impatiens were developed by PanAmerican Seed, with teams in the Netherlands and the United States, to return traditional bedding impatiens back to gardens after impatiens downy mildew became prevalent worldwide in 2011.

How to grow it: Plant Beacon impatiens in part sun to full shade and fertile, well-drained soil or potting medium. Avoid hot afternoon sun. Provide moderate water, but do not overwater. If in doubt, err on the drier side. Annual.

Images courtesy of PanAmerican Seed.