Parrot Impatiens
Impatiens niamniamensis
Please take your time removing your plant from it's packaging.
Getting Started -- I recommend leaving your plant in its original pot for about a week while it recovers from the stress of being shipped. Place the plant in a bright spot, but with no direct sunlight. Indoors under fluorescent lighting (3" away) works best for me. The ideal temperature for the first few weeks is about 70-80 degrees. Once your plant starts putting out new growth, you can give it filtered sunlight, as well as a broader temperature range. It can tolerate occasional dips in the 40s but will die if exposed to freezing temps. Dappled sun is okay, but please avoid much direct sun, especially mid-day.
Before sliding your plant from it's pot, please give it a watering, so the soil doesn't break apart, which can damage the roots. If the plant is hard to slide out, push a pen or a stick into the holes at the bottom to help push it out.
When you see new growth, you may repot your plant into a quart sized container, using well-draining potting soil. Please keep the soil moist, but not soggy most of the time. When the roots reach the bottom and poke out of the holes, repot to a 1 gallon pot, or into the ground, if you have the right climate. A good permanent container would be 3-5 gallons.
Parrot Impatiens likes fairly heavy feedings. Give it a balanced, vegetable-type fertilizer every 2-3 weeks during periods of active growth. Yellowing older leaves may mean the plant needs more fertilizer.. or it could be a sign of overwatering. If the leaves should curl under, it's sometimes a sign of stress - for example overfeeding, or wide temperature changes.
Your plant may have flower buds when it arrives. While it's exciting to watch the first blooms, i recommend preventing it from flowering too heavily until the plant has grown a little larger, because flowering saps a plant's strength. So i would remove all but one or two flower buds until the plant has grown at least 2 inches. This will let you appreciate the flowers without stressing the plant too much.
Prune your plant whenever necessary to control excessive growth. I prefer to grow mine in a "bonzai tree" style, so that it looks like a mini tree. You can remove as much or as little from a branch as you want. As long as you leave at least 1 green "nub" below the cut, new branches will grow from there. Removing mature branches will encourage new growth, so don't be afraid to cut your plant back periodically. Just avoid removing more than 20% of the branches in any given week.
You can propagate your plant by taking a 4-5 inch cutting, removing the leaves on the bottom inch, and sticking it in a glass of water. Keep it in bright, indirect light, and change the water twice a day. You should see roots within a couple of weeks. When the roots are 1" long, carefully pot to soil. Alternately, you can try rooting your cuttings directly in soil if you place a plastic bag over the cutting.
Pests to watch for: aphids, spider mites, whiteflies, fungus gnats.
Have fun growing it!
Jeff
Strange Wonderful Things