Planting, Growing, and Caring for Pansies
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Pansies are the cheerful flowers with upturned “faces.” They love cool weather and are popular for growing in spring and fall. They’re also edible, adding color to salads, drinks, and cakes. Here’s how to plant pansies and keep them growing and blooming for bright, happy gardens and containers.
About Pansies
Pansies are a type of Viola (Viola × wittrockiana) with large heart-shaped, overlapping petals and one of the widest ranges of bright, pretty colors and patterns.
Suitable for containers and borders and as ground cover, they are a go-to flower for reliable color almost year-round in some places. Pansies look pretty in a monochrome scheme or mixed colors; they also look pretty when planted with other cool-season flowers such as primroses, trailing lobelia, and sweet alyssum.
Are Pansies Annual or Perennial Flowers?
Most gardeners treat pansies (and all violas) as an annual, but they’re actually hardy in USDA Hardiness Zones 3-8. They tend to get too leggy in the heat of summer. There hasn’t been much success in producing heat-tolerant pansies that can adequately survive hot weather.
Pansies are surprisingly hearty in cold weather, though. They’ll survive a frost, bouncing back from even single-digit temperatures. If the blooms wither in the cold, the plants will often stay alive to bloom again, which makes them a great flowering plant for fall and early winter color.
Growing
How to Care for Pansies
- Remember to water pansies regularly. One of the most common reasons pansies fail is that they are not watered enough, so if they are not doing well, try watering them more.
- You can use a general, all-purpose fertilizer around your pansies to help them grow. Be wary of using a nitrogen-heavy fertilizer, as this can result in more foliage than flowers.
- Remove faded/dead flowers to encourage the plants to produce more blooms and prolong the blooming season. You can either pinch off the flower bud or cut it off just below the faded bud.
Catherine Boeckmann
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Do deer eat pansies?
Deer will eat pansies, and short of fences or high garden walls, there’s no completely fool-proof way to keep deer from finding yours. One trick that sometimes works, however, is to plant pansies among violets, a flower deer really don’t care for. Our friends at the Oklahoma State University Extension Service offer some helpful tips on protecting your gardens from deer: https://extension.okstate.edu/fact-sheets/ornamental-and-garden-plants-controlling-deer-damage.html
As I've read every where, pansies are an annual, and are either purchased as a plant or started from seed. What's curious to me is I have these growing ALL over my property!! Full sun, part shade, through the cracks of the concrete,,, you name it, I have them growing! Each year I have several that come up here and there, but this year is a record.
If I have one, I have a million!
How do you deadhead pansies?
You can either pinch-off the flower bud or cut it off just below the faded bud. New flowers will come up on new stems.
Will the pansy grow If I keep it in my room? I don't get a lot of direct sunlight though
Pansies are sun-loving plants that enjoy cool weather, so not the best choice for a room without direct sunlight! See our article on best indoor plants for low light: https://www.almanac.com/best-indoor-plants-low-light
Do I just pinch flower off or cut stem to produce new flowers?
You can do either—pinch off the flower bud or cut it off just below the faded bud. New flowers will come up on new stems.
can pansies be brought back to life if they are cut down?
