Eco-gardening is at its best in The Monday Garden
issue #33 November 10, 2002
Plants that bloom despite the shorter hours of daylight during winter are extra precious. These pansies were planted in October in my mother’s backyard here in Stamford. They should bloom almost until Christmas and be back at work around Valentine’s Day.
It is amazing how a few pansies ..
perk up the browns and greens of the late Fall garden. Just two or three patches of blue pansies (about $5 worth) came revitalize an entire border. While I find that the blue ones give the most visual lift, the apricot ones are the hardest to resist in the store. However, equal amounts of blue and apricot can clash horribly. So, a can’t-lose color formula for 10 plants is: 6 blue, 3 purple and one apricot; they’ll balance nicely. Alternatively, especially for pots, try half apricot and half yellow. (This year, I have a pot of white-edged dark purple ones on the balcony, which will go nicely with my English ivies’ dark green.)
I first saw winter-blooming pansies in London about 15 years ago. Since then, cold-tolerant pansies have become common in the USA and are offered in many garden centers, starting in mid-September.
Where I live in Zone 6, even in a mild winter, mine won’t bloom in mid-winter and die out in mid-summer heat but some people can keep them going for a full 2 years (pansies are bi-annuals in the right climate). Farther south, pansies will bloom all winter but die earlier in the summer. While I normally agree with the Plant Delight Nursery’s slogan that “Friends Don’t Let Friends Buy Annuals”, ice pansies are worth the repeat investment.
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And here’s what readers said :
Those are so pretty! Thanks for the email, it's great! ~*¤KIM¤*~ (ONT)
The blues are so deep they look violet. "Ice pansies" is such an evocative name. Barbara (NY)
These are beautiful, and at this time of year keep the feeling of spring and summer a bit revived. I was always under the impression that Pansies were so delicate. This year I bought a variety that is Perennial (never saw them before) but they have beautiful arty warm colors and are supposed to be coming up year after year. They also have lavenders and yellows. The wine color was really outstanding, looked like velvet. I hope I'm presently surprised next year. Lin (NY)
THANKS, YOU TOO. Monique (Germany)
What an awesome article. Toezie (CT)
Photo credits: Sue Sweeney
© Sue Sweeney 2005