Do you settle for a box or two of pansy plants each spring and then bemoan the fact your flower budget doesn’t allow you more?
Pansy plants purchased from the florist are expensive, but you can easily grow your sturdy plants at only a fraction of this cost.
Just imagine the pretty edgings, beds, and borders in store for the gardener who has many of these plants at his or her disposal. You can be that lucky gardener if you buy a few packets of seeds now and grow your seedlings for next season’s bloom.
Pansy seed germinates in 10 to 14 days, and there are several fine strains to choose from which will assure you of a wide range of colors and combinations of colors.
Different Pansy Varieties
Sweet-Scented Pansies
If you’d like some sweet-scented pansies, plant a packet of Read’s New Century Scented seed which was recently introduced from England.
The blooms are large, 3 ½” to 4 ½” inches in diameter, and the stems are sturdy enough to take buffets of wind and rain.
Roggli’s Swiss Giants
For color range and size, Roggli’s Swiss Giants are among the best, and if you want a heat-resistant strain, plant a packet of Engleman’s Giants.
The flowers are extremely large, and the colors are rich and bright with some veining, giving a strikingly different effect.
Elli’s Oregon Giants
Mrs. Merton G. Ellis originated the fine, ruffled strain of pansies known as Ellis’ Oregon Giants, which also come in a wide range of colors.
Steele’s Jumbo Mixed
If you want very early blooms, try Steele’s Jumbo Mixed. The blooms appear fully two weeks earlier than other strains and the colors range from pastel pinks, apricots, yellows, blues, brass tones, and various combinations of self-colors.
Giant Winter Blooming Pansies
Be sure to include a packet of Giant Winter Blooming pansies in your planting. Here in North Central Minnesota, where our winters are long and cold, they have never failed to come through in fine shape.
I was introduced to these splendid pansies quite by accident. The Geo. W. Park Seed Co. of Greenwood, South Carolina, included a packet as a gift with one of my seed orders.
The name on the packet said “Ice Pansy,” and in the small print underneath, it said the ice pansy was extremely hardy and, with a little protection, would bloom during the cold months, even in the North.
That, I thought, must be a slight exaggeration as surely, no plant could produce blooms during our cold months.
However, it almost proved to be an understatement! If there isn’t a snow covering, the ice pansies poke their smiling faces out from protected spots in the border after all the other plants are sleeping soundly.
Maple Leaf Giants
If growing something different or out-of-the-ordinary intrigues you, then plant a packet of Maple Leaf Giants, often claimed to be the largest pansy grown.
Also among the giant winter blooming strains is the perpetual flowering pansy called Giant Forerunner and the Climbing Pansy. The latter produces its blooms on long stems, which are wonderful for arranging.
Seed Sowing
While some pansies may be true perennials, it is better to treat them as biennials – that is, sow them one year for bloom the next.
The seed should be sown in a specially prepared bed or cold frame in July or early August at the latest.
We grow ours in a protected bed and winter them there, too, although a cold frame is better if available. In either case, light and moisture should be controlled until the plants have passed the seedling stage.
Well-Drained Soil
The soil should be well-drained, rich, and friable. Be sure to get your seeds from a reliable source, as it is essential to plant only fresh seeds. The viability of pansy seed decreases rapidly after it is a year old.
Sow the seeds thinly in rows and mark them to know which strains perform the best for you. As soon as true leaves are formed, thin the plants, so there is enough space for them to grow and develop well.
After the ground freezes in late fall, mulch the planting lightly with marsh hay or some non-matting material. Transplant to their permanent positions in the spring.
Once you have successfully grown plants from seeds, you will never resort to buying just a box or so of florist-grown plants in the spring.
44659 by M Schroeder