How to Plant Perfect Pansies

I know pansies are everywhere this time of year but can you blame us gardeners? If planted in early fall you can get 8 months of color out of these annuals. Pansies are also palatable! You can eat the flowers in salad or candy the flowers and use them as decoration on cakes. Make sure your pansies haven’t been treated with anything if you will eat them. Check out our Pinterest link below to get some pansy recipes. Here is your guide to getting the most out of your pansies.

Purchasing The Perfect Pansies

When you purchase pansies you are looking for smaller plants with a few blooms, many buds and almost no old flowers. It’s ok if the plants aren’t in full bloom because they should be young. When you plant them following my instructions below they will bloom profusely. If the plants look stretched out or yellow or are full of old flowers don’t buy them! They will never recover and always look scraggly. There are many varieties to look for. I usually do a mix of deep burgundy ‘Pure Red’ or ‘Pure Rose’, Deep orange and ‘Delta Pure’ purple. The delta and crown varieties work really well in Central Maryland.

Planting Pansies in the Perfect Place

I usually leave a spot in the garden or landscape closest to an entrance for annual plantings. It’s usually about 1.5ft by 3ft and I switch the flowers seasonally. You can also plant pansies in pots or flower boxes. They look excellent in an all season flower pot with evergreens, grasses and perennials. As long as you chose somewhere that will drain well and get partial sun you can have the perfect pansies. Dig the soil to prepare it where you will plant. If it has a lot of clay then add some leafgro.

Then make a hole the size of the pansy roots, sprinkle in some Osmocote (slow release fertilizer), break apart the pansy root, put the plant in the hole and fill dirt in around the pansy. Mulch to give a finished look to the bed and conserve water as well as block weeds. Make sure not to plant the pansies too deep or cover the base of the plants with mulch. Deadheading the pansies daily is fun and also tells the plant to keep blooming. If your pansies stop blooming you probably haven’t been deadheading. Water your pansies 1-2 times a week depending on where they are planted.

If you have deer make sure to cover the plantings with wildlife netting that is staked down. That will prevent those suckers from eating your hard, beautiful work. If you have slug or snail problems be sure to pick them off the plants and apply course sand or wood chips around the plants to discourage them. I’ve heard you can put out a small bowl of beer and they will be attracted to it but I have not had luck with this method!

Perfect Pansy Plant Partners

I plant pansies with with a variety of plants like ornamental kale, cabbage, purple miscanthus grass, mums and asters. In a large pot you can put a small evergreen like a nana gracilis hinoki cypress or dragon lady holly.  Plant some small mums and pansies in the pot. You can also put in some vinca or ivy (only for in pot plantings) that will trail over the side of the pot. Pansies look great in a window box planted mix with small boxwood plants. For inspiration check out my ‘Passionate for Pansies’ Pinterest board: http://www.pinterest.com/laurensgardens/passionate-for-pansies/.

Planting Pansies in the Perfect Place

Pansy partner plantings