Made for each other – impatiens and coleus for the sun

What are perfect companions in the flower garden? Generally, its plants with same demands and the kind of good looks that go well together.

If that sounds like matchmaking, it is indeed, and an art at that. Even experienced gardeners can be flummoxed by plants that should love one another, but don’t. Rather like real life.

British landscaper Dan Pearson, who is a regular on television, admits that a good number of his plants have been moved, at least once, to find the optimum position.

In his book, ‘Home Ground: Sanctuary in the City’ he says that the lesson he has had to learn over and over again is that choosing the right plant for the right place means working with the nature of the plant and not against it, even when you really want it in that particular place. Who hasn’t done that with an impulse purchase?

It is also about asking, what other plants will it happily grow with.  Even if you think they work well together, it means first checking that they need the same kind of soil, light, and water to grow well. Get that right and suddenly gardening becomes easier and more successful.

Dan says it rather nicely,” If you can combine things that favour the same conditions you start to build up communities of balanced partnerships…where their demands are similar and their habits complementary.’

Like any good matchmaker who prepares ground well beforehand, let me introduce the perfect pair:  Sunpatiens compact (nine different colours) and Sun Coleus, with foliage colours of lime green, red, orange and henna (gold with red underleaf).

Mixed Container West Chicago Henna Coleus

Both are compact, rounded plants that generally fill out to 60cm high and wide and are able to cope with sun or shade. As Kathy Varney of BallStraathof says, ‘If you plant them in sun, they will live, and if you plant them in shade, they will live.’

Sunpatiens is a hybrid that was bred in Japan and combines the wild impatiens indigenous to Indonesia with the large, heat-loving Impatiens hawkeri, from New Guinea. It is disease resistant, doesn’t mind hot, humid weather and blooms continuously from spring until the beginning of winter.

Plants should be spaced about 40cm apart and planted in well-draining soil that’s rich in organic material. For the first week or two after planting, plants should be watered every day to get them established. After that, they need only moderate watering.

But, as Kathy points out, plants that receive full sun will always need more water than those that are in semi-shade. What’s good about Sunpatiens it that it can usually be revived from wilting with a good dose of water.

Gardeners who love vivid colours, won’t hesitate to use Sun Coleus, especially the lime green foliage of ‘Wasabi and ‘Flamethrower Salsa Verde’, as a contrast or frame for the bright flowers and dark green leaves of Sunpatiens. ‘Flamethrower Salsa Verde’ is particularly unusual because its leaves are arrow-like, resembling those of an ornamental sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas).  It is the most compact of the Sun coleus range, 30 to 35cm high and wide, and can be used alongside Sunpatiens. Wasabi is a taller and bigger plant, that would work better as a backdrop for the red or orange flowering Sunpatiens.

Sun Coleus “Pinkplosion, which has serrated green leaves with a pink and cream centre that becomes deeper pink in sun, matches the pink of Sunpatiens.  Plants are sturdy and can grow up to 70cm tall and wide.

Like Sunpatiens, the Sun Coleus planted in full sun needs more regular watering, especially if they receive some afternoon sun or are grown in containers.

They too do best in fertile, well mulched soil that retains moisture but doesn’t get soggy. Space plants 30cm apart and water well to establish and then reduce watering.

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