Keep Your Pansy Faces Smiling

Posted by Hugh on December 18th, 2009

Success in blooming pansies and violas in the winter season depends on two key factors: date of fall planting and soil nutrition. If you live in USDA plant zone 6, pansies must be planted on or before October 15th, two weeks earlier in northerly zone 5, or two weeks later in zone 7. Early fall planting promotes faster and deeper rooting of plants before the cold weather arrives.

Through the fall and winter months, pansies need feeding bi-monthly with 10-10-10 or equivalent granular fertilizer to achieve maximum bloom potential.

Regarding transplant shock, violas violas are less effected compared to large flower pansies. Small flowered violas take up less garden space; therefore, the plants are spaced closer together compared to large flowered pansies. Thus, you will need to purchase more violas that pansies. Violas and small flowered pansies are more weather resilient compared to varieties with larger bloom faces like ‘Majestic Giant’ and ‘Mammoth’ series.

Pansy planting at Dallas Arboretum in December

Other ideas using pansies:

Offer pansy/viola plants a weekly drink of water, particularly in he winter if rain or snowfall in your regional area is low.

In areas where winters are colder (zone 4), apply a straw or pine needle mulch after planting to protect pansies.

In the fall consider interplanting tulip or hyacinth bulbs among the pansies or violas.

Warm weather in mid-May will stretch pansies plants and make them appear “worn out”. Remove pansies and add plants to the compost pile. Add finished compost to the flower bed before setting summer annuals.