Busy Lizzies come back with disease resistant variety
‘Lost’ bedding plant will return to shops as a super-version able to fight mildew
THE Busy Lizzie, Britain’s favourite bedding plant, is set for a comeback after scientists developed a new disease-resistant variety.
One garden centre chain says it plans to sell six million of the plants after geneticists produced a variety resistant to downy mildew, a fatal airborne disease.
The massed pink, red or white flowers have long been popular in parks and gardens nationwide.
B&Q alone used to sell 20million of the plants, also known as Impatiens wallerian, each year. But in 2011, an epidemic of downy mildew devastated Busy Lizzies after a strain became resistant to the fungicides used to treat it. The fungus, which flourishes in our damp climate, first appears as a grey powder under the leaves of infected plants.
The symptoms are irreversible: plants lose leaves, flowers and then die within a few days of infection.
In 2012, the Royal Horticultural Society advised gardeners planting Busy Lizzies to destroy any plants displaying symptoms immediately, and avoid replanting new ones in the same ground for at least a year.
Leading retailers pulled the plant from shelves and many gardeners have since switched to geraniums, begonias, petunias and marigolds and New Guinea impatiens.
Some outlets have continued to sell disease-affected varieties of Busy Lizzies but buyers have faced a high risk of them dying within weeks.
Now Syngenta Flowers, a firm using experts in plant genetics, has bred the new variety, named Imara – meaning strong and resilient in Swahili – in tribute to the plant’s east Africa origin.
Joost Kos, the firm’s head of research and development, said it crossbred two different Busy Lizzies to create a new disease-resistant hybrid that will survive all summer.
He said: “We extensively tested ‘Imara Bizzie Lizzies’ indoors and outdoors and have exposed it to the disease to ensure its resiliency.
“Imara is a new generation of Busy Lizzies that perform much better against the disease while also retaining the qualities that gardeners love such as continuous flowering, bright colours and easy care.
“We’re proud to be the first to deliver this innovation back to the market.
“I can say with confidence the Imara will perform. It gets our top plant rating for health.”
The plants will be sold in nine sizes on offer from £2.50 in six different colours – coral, rose, white, violet, red and orange star.
Steve Guy, of B&Q, said, “We are proud to be bringing back the Busy Lizzie and to launch the new ‘Imara Bizzie Lizzie’.
“There has been a pent-up demand for the plants within the gardening community and a genuine love among customers. This has driven our perseverance to address this need in the market by developing a resilient and beautiful plant with great garden performance. We’re confident our customers will love the ‘Imara Bizzie Lizzie’ just as much as before.”