Pansies and Violas Brighten Winter Days

Despite the recent warm weather, it is the season. Should your garden not look its best for the holidays, let me suggest last-minute planting of pansies and violas.

These two flowers are almost always available at nurseries, and already in bloom at that. Tuck them in front of other annuals and bulbs that have yet to flower, and the day is saved.

What’s more, they will bloom for months and maybe last all the way into summer. In my garden, violas are the current holders of the endurance record for annual bedding plants, one planting having flowered from November through June with hardly a break or breath.

Violas, incidentally, are the plain-faced cousins of pansies and, though their flowers are half the size, they more than make up for it in profusion of blooms. I would plant them exclusively if it were not for the delightful faces to be found on pansies--often described as “blotches” by gardening writers, to the horror of anyone who likes these markings. Be aware that some new pansies do not have these “blotches,” looking like large violas. Pansies are also taller than violas by a few inches. Labels in the nursery containers usually make clear which is which.

My favorite viola is Paris Market, also the name I like most, though the crisp purple flower is charmingly like a wild violet. There are a great many light purple or violet pansies and violas, and almost all are miscalled “blue,” though some come very close to being blue.

True Blue in Name Only

Not content with this nearblue, their developers have given them decidedly blue names: China Blue, Universal Beaconsfield Blue, Azure Blue, True Blue, Imperial Blue, Paramount Blue and Clear Crystal Blue are all bluish, I’ve been told, though I haven’t grown them all.

One who has is Lew Whitney at Roger’s Gardens in Newport Beach, who assembled an astonishing collection of violas and pansies this fall. Of the “blues,” he most likes Beaconsfield and China Blue for locations where a deep, rich “blue” is wanted; for a soft pastel “blue” he favors Imperial Blue.

Yellow is the other common pansy and viola color, and Lew is very excited about a new yellow named Primrose Yellow. This is a soft pastel yellow and the perfect companion for the soft Imperial Blue. If a bright yellow is the ticket, he suggests Golden Crown. There are also a surprising variety of apricot strains around now, surprising since there were none just a few years ago. The apricots and oranges are especially pretty this time of the year, harmonizing with the fallen leaves. There are also rose-colored or “ruby” violas and pansies, but I haven’t found anyone who thinks they’re that attractive.

And there is even a “pink” pansy, at least there was last spring when I first saw one labeled as such. Though it is not a true pink, it is a lovely light lavender and blends with pink and red flowers, which the yellow and orange shades do not.

And, there are white pansies and violas, which should always be mixed in with the other colors to give the planting an airy feeling. Of the mixes, Steele’s--a mixture of soft pastels--is perhaps the prettiest, or the Clear Crystal strain if you prefer brighter colors. Steele’s mix has faces that “bleed onto the petals like water colors,” which makes it a favorite of Whitney’s.

Violas Easier to Grow

If you have had problems with pansies in the past, try the violas instead, since they seem easier to grow. And if you have had problems with violas, follow this advice: Give them lots of water the first few weeks. Violas and pansies seem to need it, and they dry out easily at first.

They also need a rich, well-drained soil and are likely to rot or die of fungus diseases in heavy, clay soils or if overwatered once those first few weeks are past. Some people, myself included, never have any problems with these plants and consider them one of the easiest to grow. Others are plagued by rots and diseases. If you are one of the latter gardeners, consider mixing some sand into the soil along with an organic amendment at planting time.

They should be planted about eight inches apart, since they will easily spread that far. Late in the year they may grow a little lax and ragged. Some people shear them lightly at this point to encourage a flush of new growth, though I just tolerate the sprawl, delighted that anything lasted as long as it did with so little effort on my part. After 25 years of growing flowers, these are still the champs among bedding plants in my book.