Pansies offer brilliant blooms.
image by Paulabflat/Morguefile
There's something about pansies that bring cheer to a landscape or garden container. A pansy is a small border plant that offer brilliant blooms with minimal care. This plant can withstand temperatures to about 25 degrees F before you'll see wilting leaves and flowers. Pansies seed prolifically and will spread if given the opportunity. Learning how to care for a pansy plant involves watering and fertilizing regularly.
Purchase hardy pansies at your local garden center. Each plant can grow to about 10 inches around. Pansies look best when planted in groups of three, although individual plantings grow well.
Add soil conditioner or compost to the garden bed while turning over the top 6 inches of soil. Pansies prefer partial sun to full shade exposure and tolerate cooler temperatures quite well. Pansies make a distinct early spring or fall addition to your garden to add color, provided the soil is not frozen.
Squeeze the outside of the plastic transplant container to loosen the pot-bound pansy. Turn the container until you've squeezed it from every angle. This allows you to slip the plant out of the plastic pot without pulling on the plant.
Place your hand across the top of the planter and carefully tip the plant upside down into your palm. You can also grasp the main plant stem right above the root ball to pull it free from the container, but you risk ripping off the plant. Either method works fine as long as you're careful not to damage the plant.
Plant each pansy in an individual hole half the size of the plant container. Fill in around the plant, pressing the soil firmly to remove air pockets.
Mulch around the plants to help retain moisture in the soil. Don't mound the mulch around the center stem of the plant since this invites fungus and pests.
Water thoroughly without totally soaking the soil. Water regularly if no rainfall provides water to the plants.
Prune back dying flowers by clipping the entire length of stem back to the parent stem of the plant. Regular pinching back encourages the plant to form sturdy, low-growing bushes. Pinching back also stimulates the plant to produce more flowers instead of directing energy towards seed generation in older flowers.