Garden Detective: sorry impatiens in '11

"We did see a lot of that last summer," Seghrouchni said, adding that the season's moisture and extreme heat affected impatiens on Long Island, particularly on the North Shore.

Those conditions make for an ideal breeding ground for diseases like phytophthora root rot, and if your soil doesn't drain well, that would have escalated the infection. Anybody who ran an irrigation system would have been even more likely to see the problem, she added, which explains why my impatiens did so well. My irrigation system is very low-tech: It's just me and my watering can. To help avoid a reoccurrence, Seghrouchni advises anyone whose plants were affected last year to avoid planting impatiens in the same area next year.

At that point the withered foliage should be removed, and when stalks and shoots turn yellow they should be cut off just above the bulb.

Then store the bulb right in its pot in a cool, dry spot like an unheated basement of 40-45 degrees. Don't water the bulb at all while in storage.

Then, in May, after the danger of frost has passed, it's ideal to sink the pot in the ground up to the rim in a spot that gets full morning sun and a bit of shade in the afternoon. Being in an apartment, you might not have access to an outdoor space for the summer, but if you have a really sunny window, you might have decent results. Still, if you want blooms over the holidays, you'll need to buy another bulb. Good luck!