Question
My impatiens are mostly dead.  I have bagged them for disposal but wonder about planting impatiens or any other flower in the same ground. Does the disease remain in the soil and will a winter kill the disease in the soil?  I live in New England.

Answer
Soilborne diseases can survive up to three years. Winter will not kill it. The only proven method is to spray the entire area with a copper-based fungicide and then cover the area with black plastic to solarize the soil. This normally takes several months or one full growing season.

I would do this immediately and leave the black plastic in place until next May. After Memorial Day, you can plant hardy annuals such as petunias or marigolds. I would not plant impatiens for one full season.

It is always a good practice to rotate plants to different beds every year. Normally, diseases that affect one species will not infect others. This is not a hard and fast rule, but it generally holds true.  But by taking the actions I've described, you should have no problems next year.

Good luck, and please write again if I can ever provide assistance.

Regards,

Mike