Spotlight Plant of the Month For April: Pansies

There are certain plants that instantly bring images of seasons or events to mind. Mums are fall. Sunflowers belong to summer. Amaryllis to winter. To me, the pansy Image Courtesy of Koyaanis Qatsi means spring in all its beauty.

Those of us who live in the Southern Great Lakes Region often see these sweet-faced flowers in garden centers and greenhouses well before the last flake of snow has fallen. I have planted them in pots around the patio in March and sometimes a late snow will come and powder them. They always seem to bounce right back, though.
These cheery little plants love cool weather, so a sudden snowstorm or cold snap will usually not harm them. Since they are available by the time the worst of winter is over, extremely cold temperatures are generally not a problem. If anything, they tolerate the cold weather much better than the heat of summer. Indeed, once the temperatures start to climb into the seventies and beyond, pansies will start to suffer and decline.

So, why do I bother to grow pansies? Simply because they are so welcome after a long, cold winter. They are also among the first plants that I place in my garden, and they provide me with my first opportunity of the season to play in the dirt. I also grow them because I love their little face-like markings.

There are many varieties to choose from: Clear blues and deep amethyst, jaunty yellow and orange. There are also white and blue pansies, purple and violet pansies, and red to brick colored ones, too. Pansies come in a wide spectrum of color combinations and hues.

Some of the newer hybrids will last a bit longer into the summer than the old standbys. Fall plantings of these newer varieties will sometimes result in a double season of bloom, first in the fall, then for the following spring. If you really want to open the spring season with a bang, plan to plant these little darlings in September in our neck-of-the-woods and choose the hardiest varieties you can find. They need adequate time to become established before the onset of truly cold weather. Don't plant them where drainage is a problem, and you might be pleasantly surprised more often than not when spring comes to call. I say more often than not because you need to be aware that in some years, the winter will just be too dry and cold and while pansies can survive all but severe cold spells, they will not tolerate being dried out by cold winter winds.

April and pansies go together like toast and jam, or like Bogie and Bacall. Before I get too sentimental here, let me just add this: If you want to start the gardening season off with a bang, pick some perky pansies to plant. Now, I dare you to say say THAT three times!