More than 2,500 visitors to the RHS garden at Wisley have voted named ‘Sun Harmony Compact Lavender’ and ‘SunPatiens Spreading Variegated Salmon’ as their favourite New Guinea impatiens cultivars.

More than 100 cultivars, supplied by breeders from all over the world, were on display between July and October 2014. Wisley visitors were invited to pick their favourites from container and border displays.

‘Compact Lavender ‘was voted the most popular New Guinea impatiens grown in the borders and Spreading Variegated Salmon was the favourite container-grown selection.

Mark Heath, RHS trials dfevelopment manager, said the results did not surprise him. “The green and yellow leaf-marking on ‘Spreading Variegated Salmon’ is so wonderfully uniform and the colour of the flower is splendid. Plus, and you may have guessed by the name, it grows with fantastic vigour – plant one in a 40cm diameter pot and it fills up in no time!

 “Compact Lavender is all about flower power – big and beautiful, an absolutely gorgeous colour.”

The second most popular cultivar grown in containers was ‘SunPatiens Compact Electric Orange’ and in third place was ‘SunPatiens Spreading Variegated White’. In the borders, second place was a tie between ‘Sun Harmony Violet’ and ‘SunPatiens Compact Electric Orange’. In third position was ‘Impacio Pearl’. 

Mark added: “Breeding of this species has increased fantastically over the past few years and a host of new selections are now on the market. However, many of these plants are being sold without a proper name and description, meaning the consumer can be baffled and confused by the number of cultivars available and purchase them without well-informed knowledge of the plant’s performance in the UK.

 “It is for this reason that we held an RHS Plant Trial of New Guinea impatiens and we’re delighted to say that out of all those trialled 10 have achieved RHS Award of Garden Merit status. This means consumers purchasing these plants will be completely clued-up and the quality of the plants will be guaranteed. Having spoken to the suppliers, they are delighted and will ensure the name with the AGM logo will be used in their marketing promotions and campaigns, and the name and logo will be used on plant labels for the consumer to recognise.”