BML
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Joined: Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:10 am
Location: The village of Steventon In Oxfordshire England

Pansys all year?

I see Pansys all the year round in the Garden centers so where, how and what seeds can I buy so that I could grow a supply of them?

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Kisal
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To grow pansies, you should buy pansy seeds. Packets of the seeds can usually be found wherever garden seeds are sold. The packets might be marked with names such as "Viola tricolor" or "Johnny-Jump-ups", or "Viola x wittrockiana", which is a hybrid variety.

Are you certain it is pansies you're seeing all year? :? The reason I ask is because they are early spring plants where I live, and die back when the weather gets warm. I don't know how you might grow them year-round, unless you live in a cool climate, or have a cool greenhouse. [img]https://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh27/Kisal_photos/dunno.gif[/img]

BML
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Joined: Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:10 am
Location: The village of Steventon In Oxfordshire England

The problem with answering the question, "Are you certain?" is that the very question raises doubt in ones mind. Yes, I am fairly certain that what I have seen are Pansies and of course England has a cool climate. What is more to the point living in an international trading economy plants are sent not just from the massive growing areas such as Lincolnshire but also Holland.
I will just have to keep my eyes open as I walk about the garden centres for Pansy seeds.

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Kisal
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Location: Oregon

This is Viola tricolor, the "wild" pansy:
[img]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/14/Viola_tricolor.jpg/250px-Viola_tricolor.jpg[/img]

And so is this, with less yellow:
[img]https://www.biopix.com/PhotosSmall/JCS%20Viola%20tricolor%2036186.jpg[/img]

These are hybrids, developed for size and different colors:
[img]https://www.wilsonbrosnursery.com/images/plants/source/Pansy-Majestic-Giant-Mix.jpg[/img]

Pansies will always, to the best of my knowledge, show the same petal arrangement of two petals above three petals. They are known for their markings, referred to as "faces", although some of the hybrids lack the markings.

Are these the flowers you mean when you speak of pansies? :)

BML
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Posts: 44
Joined: Sat Jun 17, 2006 5:10 am
Location: The village of Steventon In Oxfordshire England

Yes, and very nice they look at 05.44.

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Kisal
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Location: Oregon

Viola tricolor, often called Johnny-jump-up, grows wild in my yard, mostly near my rhododendrons. They come back every spring, probably from self-seeding. They disappear when the weather starts to get warm, sometimes as early as June. I could sow seeds in June for fall blossoms, if I wanted to, but I have never done that.

My sweet violets (Viola odorata) bloom slightly later than my wild pansies, but only by a couple of weeks. Again, once the weather gets warmer, they're gone.

I've never planted the hybrids, because I enjoy the delicacy of the wild flowers, and I have so many of them. :)



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