It’s about time to say goodbye to all those impatiens. They are probably not looking so great anyway, especially if they are getting a lot of sun. But if you really love them, May doesn’t have to be the end of the line.

I have never been a great fan of impatiens. Their good points are many: They have brilliant colors, they are cute and cheerful, they bloom constantly and don’t need deadheading. The bad side, however, is they need water, water and more water to prevent serious drooping, especially if they get a lot of sun. Water restrictions aside, I’m lazy.

And despite the fact that you can still find them for sale in some garden centers, they really start to fade dramatically when Mother Nature starts turning up the heat a notch or two in South Florida.

However, I was looking for something colorful and dramatic to keep in pots on my pool deck while out of town company was visiting, and some absolutely eye popping bright orange compact-series Sunpatiens caught my eye at a nearby big box garden center. I knew my pool guy would not be excited about the steady fall of flowers around the pool, but he could live with it for a week, I figured.

Sunpatiens, which were developed in Japan and patented by Viva!, are touted as being better in sun, better in areas of high heat and high humidity, and possessing more vigor than your average impatiens. The flowers are bigger than traditional impatiens since they are a cross between New Guinea impatiens and a wild impatiens.

When seen in mounded rows at the garden center, they are virtually irresistible.

They added just the pop of vivid color I was looking for, and came in a gallon container. I bought three of them, which created quite a mass of flowers. They looked spectacular.

But roughly 24 hours later, after I had left them well watered in their colorful pots in an area shaded only slightly by a recently trimmed Queen palm, I looked out at a sight of desolation. One of them was totally wilted, the others didn’t look as good as they had the day before, but were still sort of presentable. I hustled out with a gallon of water, and within a few hours, they were all standing tall and as bright as a flame in the corner of my pool deck. Another 24 hours, and another case of the droops.

I have to admit that the retailer’s website lists under the Sunpatiens characteristics: “Water Wise — No,” and that is certainly right. The plant tag, which says “Keeps soil moist, but not wet,” is probably not quite as truthful.

I was talking to a friend who works in a nursery and said my new Sunpatiens were keeping me running back and forth with my watering can.

“What did you expect, they’re impatiens,” she said.

And once the summer rains start, I will probably get some respite from the constant “moistening” routine, something that doesn’t happen with our standard October to May winter impatiens plantings here in South Florida.

Christine Winter Juneau is a National Wildlife Federation Habitat Steward. Reach her at .