Beacon Impatiens

By Christine Menapace After eight long years, landscapers will soon be able to answer “yes” to clients who want to bring back Impatiens to their landscapes. With a limited launch this year and a full launch in 2020, new Beacon™ Impatiens from PanAmerican Seed offer high resistance to the downy mildew that decimated this popular plant back in 2011. They come in six core colors: bright red, violet, salmon, coral, orange, and white; as well as two mixes. “We’ve been very happy,” Beacon global product manager Lisa Lacy tells Turf. “For the landscaping market and globally there’s been a lot of loss… it was a long road bringing it back… it was a lot of diligence and cross testing… over a million plants were screened.” Of course, the only goal wasn’t just disease resistance, “it also had to be a good looking Impatiens,” notes Lacy, who experienced the heyday, decline, and now reintroduction of the Impatiens market. “I feel very fortunate to have been a part of this… it’s a product gift.” Does she expect Impatiens to reach their former popularity? She says it’s a good question and one that’s been asked a lot. “In general the feedback has been high interest,” she says. Beacon is easy to grow, and consumers already know what to do with Impatiens, she says. “There’s no learning curve.” Once a favorite of landscapers and clients alike, the shade-loving flower Impatiens walleriana fell victim to Plasmopara obducens, a water mold that led to a widespread ...