The development of cost-effective management and sampling techniques for western flower thrips, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande), on garden impatiens, Impatiens wallerana (Hook. f.), requires that information about the within-plant distribution and diurnal patterns of thrips abundance be known. Impatiens flower bud development was divided into five arbitrary stages, representing tightly closed buds through fully opened flowers. Numbers of immature and adult thrips associated with these flower stages were determined at six times daily (0000, 0200, 0600, 0800, 1400, and 2000 hours). In addition, thrips distribution was determined among flowers with and without pollen, and on budless foliage, at two times daily (0800 and 0000 hours). Each successive stage of flower bud development contained significantly more adult female and immature thrips than the previous stage. The oldest flowers contained significantly fewer immature thrips than penultimate stage buds. There was no effect of sampling time on thrips density across flower bud stages. Flowers with pollen had significantly more adult female thrips compared with flowers without pollen, but numbers of adult male and immature thrips were not affected by presence of pollen. Foliage consistently contained the fewest of all life stages of thrips. There was a significant effect of time on female thrips abundance within the fully opened flower with pollen category and no effect of time on immature thrips abundance.