Extend the Season with Resilient Pansies

The pansy's cheerful appearance and sweet, subtle scent belie its ability to survive spring freezes, fall cold snaps, and even mild winters. For those not familiar, the pansy flower has a distinctive asymmetrical five-petal arrangement. There are three front petals, with two above and one below, sometimes with dark blotches in the center resembling a face. Some have lines radiating from the center of the flower. Behind and above this face are the remaining two petals. From an original color palette of yellow and purple, pansies are now available in every color of the rainbow, and many feature multi-colored blooms. The blooms are edible (if grown organically). Popular as both a bedding and container plant, pansies are actually perennials with biennial tendencies that are usually treated as annuals.

Origin and History

The history of the pansy's rise from a humble wildflower to a floral favorite was analyzed by Swedish horticulturalist Veit Brecher Wittrock in The Gardeners' Chronicle, May 30, 1896 (page 684). Wittrock noted that the source of the modern pansy is cloaked in enough mystery that even Charles Darwin declined to cite its origin. Wittrock concluded that the pansy is descended from the wildflower Viola tricolor—today commonly known as Johnny jump up—and Viola lutea, or mountain pansy. Both wildflowers were cultivated in Europe from the 17th century on. Victorian gardeners took a great interest in these flowers, and by the middle of the 19th century, their crossbreeding efforts had yielded over 400 pansy hybrids. The botanical name of the modern pansy Viola x wittrockiana honors Wittrock as the plant's historian. The "x" in the name denotes that the plant is a hybrid.    

The common name "pansy" seems to be derived from the French word pensée, which means thought or remembrance. The flower has often been associated with reflection as is illustrated by Ophelia's line in Shakespeare's Hamlet, "And there is pansies, that's for thoughts." (Hamlet 4.5.176-177)

Pansies through the Seasons

Pansies have endeared themselves to me because they are the first flowering plant that I can put on my front porch in the spring. They can survive outdoors about a month before the last frost-free date in your growing area.

The pansy's Achilles heel is the heat of summer. High temperatures cause them to become leggy and pale with few blooms. I usually dispose of pansies in the height of summer and replace them with heat-tolerant annuals, but pansies can be cut back and mulched in the summer to await cooler fall weather.

Though pansies are usually considered annuals, they also have biennial tendencies. In the warmer zones and micro-climates of Pennsylvania, they can be planted in beds in the fall, mulched with straw or evergreen boughs in the winter and they will thrive and bloom in the spring. They are indeed a very resilient plant!

Containerized pansies can survive the winter if kept in a protected area. You may want to cover them in particularly harsh temperatures (below 25°F). Whether in a container or garden bed, hydrating pansies before freezing weather will help keep them alive. Icicle® pansies are bred especially for cold temperatures.

Caring for Pansies

Beginning gardeners will find pansies easy to grow. They prefer well-drained soil, rich in organic matter, such as compost. They can be grown in full sun to part shade. If they are in a container, consider moving them from sun to part shade as the temperatures increase in the spring. Very few pests and diseases bother pansies. Slugs pose the greatest threat.

Pansies do not need intense applications of fertilizer but would benefit from a slow-release fertilizer or application of a general fertilizer every few weeks, especially if they are grown in a container. Deadheading helps increase bloom.

Pansies are readily available at garden centers and can also be grown from seed. Seeds need to be started indoors 14 to 16 weeks before planting outdoors. My experiments growing pansies from seeds have yielded mixed results. One year, my seed-grown pansies lasted particularly well into the summer, while another year, they barely bloomed before the onslaught of summer heat.

I recommend giving in to the tempting displays of pansies when they appear at your local garden center. Enjoy the many color combinations and consider pairing pansies with other cool-loving plants such as ornamental kale (Brassica oleracea) or sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima). Every gardener dreams of extending the growing season and planting pansies in the early spring and Icicle® pansies in the fall will do just that.