Choose a spot in full sun or part shade when planting out your pansies. Water regularly and do not allow the surrounding soil (pot) to dry out. These large flowered pansies bring lots of colour to the winter garden. Plant these striking blooms in pots, planters and along the edge of beds and borders. The various colours mix well with each other. They look wonderful next to winter jasmine (Jasminum nudiflorum). Pansies also look great in the rockery and they will flower for months on end.

When pansies flower

Large flowered pansies are bi-annuals that will be hardy in the winter following receipt. There are two types:

1. Pansies delivered in the autumn are what we call winter flowering pansies. They will bloom from October or November and if the winter is mild, will flower through to April. Even in severe winters they will flower again as soon as the temperature is above zero. They may even flower through to June if the spring is mild.
2. Pansies delivered in the spring will flower from February or March and keep flowering until the first really warm days in May, possibly even June.

Keep deadheading to encourage new flowers to grow. For extra profuse flowering, we recommend using plant food when watering. Keep the bed or pot moist, free of weeds and your plants will thrive.

Pansies are reasonably hardy and may remain outdoors in borders and pots in the winter (although of course slightly more sensitive to frost in pots, they can still withstand quite a bit). Severe winters will see them lose their leaves but they will grow back again in the spring.

Harvesting

Although mostly planted just to admire, pansy flowers can be eaten too. You can harvest them any time as long as the plants are in growth, just cut off the flowers with scissors or a sharp knife.

Viola x wittrockiana are pansy hybrids that always include at least Viola tricolor.