Pansies are a traditional favorite, beloved for their pretty blooms that brighten cool-weather landscapes. They also work well in window boxes and containers, where you can appreciate the pretty blossoms up close. For best growth and flowers, plant in moist, fertile, well-drained soil. Pansies like cool temperatures, but today’s hybrids are more heat tolerant than ever, often lasting into summer in our area, until it gets really hot.
Keep on the lookout for Cool Wave trailing pansies! These plants have a unique spreading and trailing growth habit that makes them must-haves in your garden. Cool Wave trailing pansies are much more vigorous than the standard pansy varieties. The plants are well branched and will fill a landscape bed or hanging basket with good color, even into the hot summer months.
Although fall plantings will give a display into the cold months, pansies planted now will do very well and flower for that new Spring pop of color winter gardens desperately need. Whenever they are planted you should always pinch out all flower heads. This might seem harsh, but they quickly grow new buds, and as a result you will have many more flowers that continue for much longer. Regular dead-heading will do much to increase the longevity of their bloom time.
Pansies do best in cool, damp conditions in light or dappled shade but are robust enough to endure all but the very harshest conditions and will thrive in full sun until the real heat drives them into dormancy, only to bloom again once it cools. In our books, it’s a win/win!