Out
On A Limb / October 2006
Facing Up
Pansies are small, charming, personable plants. A flower for all seasons, a pansy is blooming somewhere in North America at every time of the year. Pansies thrive in cool weather and tolerate light frost and cold night temperatures so most pansies are grown for fall and winter blooms. In temperate regions pansies may be a perennial, but in the Mid Ohio Valley they are an annual. The name pansy is from the French word pensée, meaning thought or remembrance. The plant’s scientific name is Viola x wittrockiana.
The pansy has one of the widest color ranges of any garden annual-red, purple, blue, bronze, pink, black, yellow, white, lavender, orange, apricot and even mahogany. Pansy blooms have a single flower with five rounded petals and one of three basic color patterns. Flowers may be one, two or three colors with a face. The single, clear colors like yellow or blue are traditional favorites. A second pattern has a single color with black ‘penciling’ radiating from the center, like a viola. But the most familiar pansy, the one most popular with home gardeners has a dark center, that looks like a small face.
Pansies also come in three sizes-large, which are 3-4 inches, medium, 2-3 inches and multiflora, 1-2 inches.
Of the large pansies, the Majestic Giant Mix and Majestic Giant White Face are hardy plants that stand up to heat or cold particularly well. Swiss Giants are an old-fashioned European pansy bred in Switzerland. Their large flowers on long stems are good for cut flower bouquets. Many of today’s hybrid varieties were developed from Swiss Giants.
Of the medium blooms, the Imperial series is prized for non-fading colors and vigorous growth. In addition to the longstanding favorite, imperial Blue, there are unique pink shades in the series. The Springtime series offers seventeen colors and plants that are heat and cold tolerant.
In multiflora, the Universal series features masses of early blooming flowers that have proved cold tolerant during southern winter conditions and heat tolerant in northern summers. The fourteen multiflora Maxim colors have faced flowers that bloom prolifically on compact plants. One of the series, Maxim Marina, has an unusual light blue flower with a dark blue face outlined in white. All Maximsexhibit heat and cold tolerance.
Pansies bear multiple stems with coarsely notched oval or heart shaped leaves. Some have a delicate scent-yellow and blues seem to have the strongest scent-with more fragrance at early morning and dusk.
Although wild pansies and their kin, viola, were not new on the continent, when a pansy with blocks of color, the ‘face’, was discovered 1839, the pansy named “Medora”and its progeny became popular with gardeners and breeders throughout Europe. By 1850 many new strains of pansies were available to Europeans and North American gardeners welcomed the newly bred flowers, too. An 1888 mail-order catalog, describes the pansy as “The most popular of all flowers grown from seed-our sales exceeding one hundred thousand packets a year.”
In the last 50 years, innovative pansy breeding by Germany, the US and Japan have contributed new pansy colors in shades of pink, rose and orange and unusual bicolor designs.
Pansies may be grown from seed or seedlings, but gardeners who want instant color can find it in pansy flats at garden shops everywhere.
Pansies will grow in a variety of soils but prefer a well drained home base, rich in organic matter. They like full sun. Plants in too much shade become spindly, with fewer and smaller flowers. Mature plants should be planted six to ten inches apart, 4-6 weeks before frost. Choose stocky plants with dark green foliage, just a few blooms but many buds. For winter, choose pansies in bright, warm colors. Darker and cooler colors tend to get lost in winter’s dreary landscape. With so many color choices, it seems a shame not fend off the cold gray days with as many as possible.
Newly planted pansies must be watered thoroughly. Moving them from container to garden is quite stressful for the plants; plenty of water during their adjustment period is critical. Newly planted pansies also need protection from slugs and snails. Slugs leave older established plants alone.
There are more than 250 cultivars of Viola x wittrockiana, a.k.a. The Pansy, in just about every color imaginable. From the golden yellow of ‘Sunny Boy’, to the pink velvet of ‘Raspberry Rose’, to the deep red of Alpenglow, pansies put happy, practically care-free faces in the garden. PL
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