PlantFiles: Pansy
Viola x wittrockiana

Plant these guys as soon as the weather here in Texas starts to cool in October and you will have flowers throughout the winter. The only reason you pull them out of the garden is to replace them with your spring/summer annuals.

These flowers are everywhere here in Oklahoma in the winter time. They are beautiful, easy to keep, and add some refreshing color in the midst of winter.

Pansies are a cool weather plant here, but many of mine muddle through the summer. As fond of the pansy as I am, I have decided not to collect and sow seeds from them anymore ... they take too long to bloom, germination isn't that great, and survival rate of my seedlings is even worse.

I will continue to welcome them into my garden - as volunteers, or purchased in 6-packs!

The Pansy is a result of cross breeding between various Viola species.

Evergreen perennials which are usually grown as annuals and biennials they give rise to a number of colours, cultivars and sizes.

Has mid-dark green, lobed leaves. Bears large (2-4inch across) flowers with overlapping petals and short spurs. Some have a faint scent.

Main flowering is May-September but some cultivars have been bred to flower (if sown early enough) during winter and Spring, there are few months you cannot find a Pansy in flower in England! The Winter and Spring flowering cultivars tend to have smaller flowers than the Summer bloomers. To keep them flowering, dead head the old flowers or they will put all their effort into producing seeds.

Likes a well drained but moist, moderately fertile soil in full sun or partial shade. Some Pansy flowers will suffer a colour fade in full sun.