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Balsaminaceae family

Buzzy Lizzy Impatiens walleriana f. form

Buzzy Lizzy is an introduced annual herb, found in Hawaii, the lower 48 states, and the Pacific Basin.

More about this plant

Impatiens walleriana, also known as busy Lizzie, balsam, sultana, or simply impatiens, is a species of the genus Impatiens, native to eastern Africa from Kenya to Mozambique. The Latin specific epithet walleriana honours a British missionary, Horace Waller (1833–1896). Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 7 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Annual
In the garden
Herb layer — Sits in the herb of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~12 caterpillar species

Impatiens supports ~12 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a moderate genus.

Recorded feeding on Impatiens in North America, including:

Argyrotaenia velutinana · Red-Banded Leafroller Caripeta divisata · Gray Spruce Looper Choristoneura fumiferana · Spruce Budworm Ecliptopera silaceata · Small Phoenix Ecliptoptera silaceata · geometer (inchworm) moth Euchlaena obtusaria · Obtuse Euchlaena
+ 8 more species →
Euphyia unangulata · Sharp-Angled Carpet Olethreutes agilana · leafroller moth Olethreutes albiciliana · leafroller moth Orthodes crenulata · owlet moth Pseudorthodes vecors · Small Brown Quaker Spilosoma latipennis · Pink-Legged Tiger Moth Spoladea recurvalis · Banded Sable Trichodezia albovittata · White-Striped Black
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (10) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[07] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[08] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[09] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[10] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
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