The National Garden Bureau dubbed 2017 the Year of the Pansy — a well-deserved distinction for Viola x wittrockiana. Easy to grow, inexpensive and even edible, the now-celebrated annual bedding plants were considered lowly weeds until the early 19th century.
“Pansies are one of the happiest flowers around. They’re an invigorating indicator of spring,” said Char Farley Chacon, who oversees residential projects for Designscapes Colorado and has worked in the landscaping industry for more than 20 years. “Violas are so charming and delicate and happy. Totally cheery!”
Don’t let those friendly little flower faces fool you — pansies are tough. In Denver, pansies and violas (their cousins with smaller flowers) can weather three seasons. Even three woefully unpredictable Front Range seasons.
“Snow helps them. Pansies love cooler temperatures and won’t get hurt,” Chacon said. “Let nature take its course. It might knock a bloom off, but it will toughen them up.”
So despite possibilities of Mother’s Day blizzards, you can plant pansies now.
“Whether in pots or inter-planting, you can’t go wrong with pansies,” Chacon said.
Designscapes Colorado plants Hardy Boy pansies grown locally at Welby Gardens, which ships Hardy Boy pansies to 13 states in a 1,200 mile radius. Welby Gardens has been growing pansies since the mid-1950’s, according to Al Gerace, president of the family business. Of the 500-some varieties of the genus viola, they grow 60 different pansies and another 20 varieties of violas.
“We grow up to 100,000 flats of pansies with 72 plants each in a given year. This is one of our alpha products,” said Gerace.
One of the charms of pansies is their wide spectrum of colors, from milk white to the almost-black “Halloween.” Pansies and violas flower in many beguiling combinations, too. Hardy Boy concoctions include Midnight Glow, which blends dusky purple and moonlight yellow. Tequila Mix brings to mind Mexican sunsets. Jolly Joker is tricked out in orange and purple. Blueberry Thrill has a springy palette of violet-blue and butter yellow. Matrix Amethyst Mix combines tints and shades of purple. Denver sports fans can even root for the home team with Hardy Boy’s Bronco Mix of orange, white and blue. Baseball fans can opt for Rockies Purple.
Pansies prefer soil that’s moist yet not soggy. To encourage continued flowers, deadhead pansies by pinching off spent blooms.
“If pansies grow leggy, shear them back and give them a shot of fertilizer. They’re resilient,” Chacon said. “But deer and bunnies love pansies, so if you live in the country or foothills, planting pansies in flower pots rather than beds is a better application.”
Humans can also eat pansies.
“They’re elegant added to a salad or frozen in an ice cube,” Chacon said.
Bakers sugar the flowers to decorate desserts. But if you plan to put pansies on the menu, grow organically.
Pansies like to eat, too. Chacon recommends Welby Gardens’ Hardy Start slow-release plant food.
For spring companion plants that, like pansies, can weather spring’s cold, Chacon suggests snapdragons, dianthus and stock. Another option is panolas, a recent cross between a pansy and a viola.
“The flowers are somewhere in between a Johnny jump-up and a pansy,” Gerace said. He added that many landscapers use panolas in place of impatiens, a shade annual under siege by downy mildew.
“They will stand in for impatiens as a great substitute,” Gerace said of panolas. “You can plant them in the shade, and they have more summer durability than pansies.”
While 2017 is the Year of the Pansy, these plants have been around for centuries. They’re typically associated with love. Hippocrates used pansies to treat heart ailments and lift the spirits. Shakespeare included pansies in his love potion in “A Midsummer Nightap Dream” and also included the flowers in “Hamlet.”
Legend holds that pansies derive their color from Cupid’s arrow. The British call pansies “heartsease.” Victorians believed if they carried a pansy, they ensured their sweetheartap love. And in the Victorian language of flowers, pansies were code for, “you’re in my thoughts.”
If you have your heart set on pansies, yet don’t get around to planting them this spring, you’ll have another chance come fall when the cheerful, whiskered faces return for their second act. Plant pansies right before or after the first Front Range frost. In the landscape, pansies situated in a sunny spot in autumn can withstand winter and bloom again in spring.
“Pansies will add six months of additional color and extend the season out so much further,” Chacon said.“They’re not that expensive. You get your dollar’s worth.”
When purchasing pansies, steer clear of leggy plants. And resist the urge to buy the pansies with the most blooms. Instead, look for compact growth and flowers in the promising bud stage.
“Pansies are carefree,” said Chacon. “Even somebody who’s not a gardener can be impressed with gardening if they try pansies.”
Colleen Smith writes and gardens in Denver.
