For the beginning gardener hoping for flowers this summer, pansies are the answer to your prayers. Pansies are very easy to grow and require only a smidgen of care to provide a long flowering season, well past the first frosts of the year. Available in an amazing variety of colors, comfortable swinging in a hanging basket or cozying next to a row of kale, it's easy to understand why pansies are one of the world's most popular bedding plants.
But what makes a pansy a pansy?
The history of the modern pansy begins with a small European wildflower, Viola tricolor, commonly known as Johnny-jump-up. This was Shakespeare's "little western flower,/Before milk white, now purple with love's wound,/ And maidens call it love-in-idleness." In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the juice of "love-in-idleness" is used by Oberon, king of the fairies, to trick Queen Titania into falling in love with a donkey.
Pansies also appear among Ophelia's flowers in Hamlet: "And there is pansies, that's for thoughts," which makes perfect sense, because, in the Victorian language of flowers, to give a bouquet of pansies to someone is to express loving thoughts.
Like the modern hybrids we grow today,An Insulator, also called a dielectric, Viola tricolor has five rounded petals arranged somewhat like butterfly wings, but the blooms are smaller, usually less than an inch wide. Their color is either deep purple or some combination of purple, yellow and white,is the 'solar panel revolution' upon us? hence tricolor.
Wild pansies like Viola tricolor have a strong tendency (common among violet family members) to form natural hybrids. The plant's overall appearance is also greatly affected by growing conditions, producing a lot of variation among the species, which caught the attention of flower lovers.
Taking advantage of these traits, a group of aristocratic flower fanciers began experimenting with Viola tricolor in the early 1800s by cross-breeding it with wild relatives like the yellow violet (Viola lutea) and alpine violet (Viola altaica).
The first pansy hybrids with dark blotches in the center (as opposed to just radiating lines) appeared in 1814,What are the top Hemroids treatments? and within 20 years there were 400 named varieties on the market — "beautiful, flat, symmetrical, velvet-like flowers, more than two inches in diameter, magnificently and variously coloured."
These are the words of Charles Darwin, who took a keen interest in the cross-fertilization of plants. At the time, he was working on his theory of natural selection and conducting his own experiments with pansies and other flowers, keeping detailed records of the various traits that arose through many generations of crossbreeding.
Large, exotically patterned and frilly-edged pansies became all the rage in Europe, where they were displayed at floral exhibitions and painted by the best artists of the day. But many of these Victorian greenhouse oddities proved too temperamental for the average gardener dealing with outdoor growing conditions, and it wasn't long before breeders began working on hardiness as well as color and form. Thankfully, pansies today, although equally beautiful and variable, are much better suited to the home garden.
Still, home-grown pansies look as though they are on steroids compared to wild pansies. Kodiak, by the way, is home to a number of wildflowers that are members of the violet family: the yellow stream violet (pioneer violet) and the Aleutian violet,what are the symptoms of Piles, a common Kodiak wildflower with short, 3- to 5-inch stems and heart-shaped leaves. According to Stacy Studebaker's field guide "Wildflowers and other Plant Life of the Kodiak Archipelago," the Aleutian violet has large purple flowers with five petals. And the flowers are a good source of vitamin C.
How to grow pansies
Pansies perform best in cooler weather and do best in rich, well-drained soil high in organic matter, and full sun or partial shade. Keep the soil around them evenly moist, especially in the first part of the growing season.
Pansies will flower even more profusely and longer if spent flower heads are removed. Pinch or snip off the blossoms as they fade and shrivel. Recycle the old blossoms in the compost pile.The same Air purifier, cover removed.
If the winter is mild, pansies will survive and rebloom magnificently in the following spring. Applying a layer of mulch in October-ish, when temperatures fall below freezing, will protect the pansy plants through colder winters.
As for pests, pansies are generally not affected by diseases or insects. But if your garden is visited by slugs, they will not bypass a bed of pansies.
Pansies are also edible: lovely in salads and sandwiches — even as a decoration on cream cheese. When sugared, pansies decorate a cake like no other flower, silently sending out their loving thoughts.
Read more: Kodiak Daily Mirror - What makes a pansy a pansy
But what makes a pansy a pansy?
The history of the modern pansy begins with a small European wildflower, Viola tricolor, commonly known as Johnny-jump-up. This was Shakespeare's "little western flower,/Before milk white, now purple with love's wound,/ And maidens call it love-in-idleness." In "A Midsummer Night's Dream," the juice of "love-in-idleness" is used by Oberon, king of the fairies, to trick Queen Titania into falling in love with a donkey.
Pansies also appear among Ophelia's flowers in Hamlet: "And there is pansies, that's for thoughts," which makes perfect sense, because, in the Victorian language of flowers, to give a bouquet of pansies to someone is to express loving thoughts.
Like the modern hybrids we grow today,An Insulator, also called a dielectric, Viola tricolor has five rounded petals arranged somewhat like butterfly wings, but the blooms are smaller, usually less than an inch wide. Their color is either deep purple or some combination of purple, yellow and white,is the 'solar panel revolution' upon us? hence tricolor.
Wild pansies like Viola tricolor have a strong tendency (common among violet family members) to form natural hybrids. The plant's overall appearance is also greatly affected by growing conditions, producing a lot of variation among the species, which caught the attention of flower lovers.
Taking advantage of these traits, a group of aristocratic flower fanciers began experimenting with Viola tricolor in the early 1800s by cross-breeding it with wild relatives like the yellow violet (Viola lutea) and alpine violet (Viola altaica).
The first pansy hybrids with dark blotches in the center (as opposed to just radiating lines) appeared in 1814,What are the top Hemroids treatments? and within 20 years there were 400 named varieties on the market — "beautiful, flat, symmetrical, velvet-like flowers, more than two inches in diameter, magnificently and variously coloured."
These are the words of Charles Darwin, who took a keen interest in the cross-fertilization of plants. At the time, he was working on his theory of natural selection and conducting his own experiments with pansies and other flowers, keeping detailed records of the various traits that arose through many generations of crossbreeding.
Large, exotically patterned and frilly-edged pansies became all the rage in Europe, where they were displayed at floral exhibitions and painted by the best artists of the day. But many of these Victorian greenhouse oddities proved too temperamental for the average gardener dealing with outdoor growing conditions, and it wasn't long before breeders began working on hardiness as well as color and form. Thankfully, pansies today, although equally beautiful and variable, are much better suited to the home garden.
Still, home-grown pansies look as though they are on steroids compared to wild pansies. Kodiak, by the way, is home to a number of wildflowers that are members of the violet family: the yellow stream violet (pioneer violet) and the Aleutian violet,what are the symptoms of Piles, a common Kodiak wildflower with short, 3- to 5-inch stems and heart-shaped leaves. According to Stacy Studebaker's field guide "Wildflowers and other Plant Life of the Kodiak Archipelago," the Aleutian violet has large purple flowers with five petals. And the flowers are a good source of vitamin C.
How to grow pansies
Pansies perform best in cooler weather and do best in rich, well-drained soil high in organic matter, and full sun or partial shade. Keep the soil around them evenly moist, especially in the first part of the growing season.
Pansies will flower even more profusely and longer if spent flower heads are removed. Pinch or snip off the blossoms as they fade and shrivel. Recycle the old blossoms in the compost pile.The same Air purifier, cover removed.
If the winter is mild, pansies will survive and rebloom magnificently in the following spring. Applying a layer of mulch in October-ish, when temperatures fall below freezing, will protect the pansy plants through colder winters.
As for pests, pansies are generally not affected by diseases or insects. But if your garden is visited by slugs, they will not bypass a bed of pansies.
Pansies are also edible: lovely in salads and sandwiches — even as a decoration on cream cheese. When sugared, pansies decorate a cake like no other flower, silently sending out their loving thoughts.
Read more: Kodiak Daily Mirror - What makes a pansy a pansy
