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Penny Carnathan
Penny’s a Nurture And Hold (NAH): Nah, I won’t pull that out yet, it’s still got a green shoot. She likes dragonflies, lady bugs and new stuff only after weeding, pruning and fertilizing.
Kim Franke-Folstad
Kim’s a Want It Now (WIN): Everything pretty, everything now. She will resort to full-spectrum insecticides in desperate situations, and believes it’s her duty and right to buy new plants every weekend.
Both advocate Plant Choice (SOMEthing besides crotons. Please!), lots of color and low maintenance. We don’t agree on everything, but we’re smart enough to learn from each other - and from you.
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Another embarrassing admission: Yes, I’m a pansy (and viola!) junkie
Posted Dec 5, 2009 by Loren Omoto
Updated Dec 6, 2009 at 08:29 AM
When I was a little girl in Vermont, I remember how deliriously excited we kids were to see the first snowfall every winter (or fall.) We’d run outside with our tongues stuck out to catch the snowflakes, and hands stuck out in a really dumb attempt to catch enough for a snowball.
After two or three months, snow was a BORE. We were sick of putting old bread bags over our shoes and socks before stuffing them into rubber boots, just to go out and play for a hour, after which we were too cold, wet and miserable to stay out any longer.
And after five or six months, snowballs, snow forts and snowmen were a very poor substitute for the bicycles we couldn’t ride and the kickball games we couldn’t play.
But every spring, there came the day that we got off the school bus and, as we got close to our house, saw that Grandma had lined the sidewalk with pansies. It was the prettiest, most hopeful sight in the world, and it thrilled me as much as that first snowfall.
Pansies and their little cousins, violas (in the photo at top), are the most common of annuals. But I have always loved them. And I always look forward to planting them when we cool off.
I had a bedraggled bed of blue daze just waiting to be replaced, containers to fill, and a scale-encrusted row of Purslane Pazazz that was failing to add pizazz to the front of the house. So as soon as the temps started dropping last month, I went in search of the huge displays of pansies and violas the nurseries and garden centers have this time of year.
None!
I went back weekend after weekend and found a few here and there, but not the huge selection I’d hoped to spend time dithering over.
Finally, while on staycation last week, I ordered a tray of 16 violas from Green Thumb Nursery. (Owner Pat Hey says violas hold up longer than pansies when it gets warm.) They cost $18, but desperate times require desperate measures. The dying blue daze is now silver euphorbia (also known as Diamond Frost —very hardy, and kind of looks like snow) and purple violas. It’ll look better, I hope, when the violas fill out.
At Lowe’s I finally found a better—but not the hoped-for—display of pansies. I got a tray of 12 for $11.88, but beware, when all the plants are in one tray, they tend to get battered when you pop them out. At least for my $18, I got a tray of violas in individual little pots, which are easier to plant, and the trays and pots will be great for seedlings and cuttings.
Pansies, by the way, can turn to ice in a freeze and come right back. I’ve seen it myself. That’s why, even though they’re annuals, I like them for my winter garden. One less thing to cover.
The pansies replaced Purslane in my old kitchen sink on the patio. I’ve probably crowded them together too much, but I was in need of some instant gratification.
Here’s the sink before:
And after (I kept the tall gaura, though it’s not looking so good, because something needs to block the ugly concrete wall behind) I would have gotten more gratification if the sink’s drainboards and the patio beneath weren’t so dirty, but when you add water to a kitchen sink full of dirt, it tends to get ... dirty:
I now also have orange pansies lining that front garden bed
and yellow and purple pansies in containers and colorless patches in the back garden. This container had dynamic dianthus and pooped-out purslane. Out with the purslane, in with the purple pansies.
No sooner did I get them all planted, but the rain started. Serendipity!
Funny, in Florida, pansies signal just the opposite of what they did when I was a kid in Vermont. These days they say, “Summer is over!” “Hurricane season is over!”
But, just as good, they also say, “Time to get out that bicycle.”
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Reader Comments
Posted by (Susan Gillespie) on December 06, 2009
Love your pansies, Penny. I like them too, in the winter, but like those petunias more. Anything that gives us color and flowers during the cold season is great in my book. I’m loving your euphorbia. I’m going to have to get me some of that. It adds a very nice touch.
Posted by (mangoman) on December 06, 2009
That viola in the first picture is GORGEOUS! I would love to have a bed of those! My second batch of lettuce is up (YEAH! :D) so hopefully we will be eating salads soon.
Eric
Posted by (Chip) on December 06, 2009
don’t you just love pansies and petunias and the bees cant stay away from them either.I got to meet Eric Saturday and his Dad,what a nice garden you have Eric. Diane says Thank you she has had black berry’s on her wish list for a while now. I saw our first strawberry bloom today! My grandson spotted it first and promptly called dibs on it and I am not fool enough to get between him and a strawberry! ..“Chip”
Posted by (Chip) on December 06, 2009
All three of my youngest grandsons live close by and there love of strawberry’s is why we decided to give them a try. they do not want sugar on it no cake with it or whip cream, just the berry’s thank you. so far most of the work for the berry’s were in the prep and making sure they were kept wet for the first 14 days. We got ours from parksdale farms and they were kind enough to give us an written directions on every thing we need to know this was very handy for first timers like us. Potatoes are next up for planting Shell’s called and said potatoes sets are just now in. now that is a no brainier crop! and seed trays need to be started soon for the spring never ends huh? “Chip”
Posted by (Iluvpumpkins) on December 06, 2009
Penny, Your displays look great, I love diamond frost. What kind of lettuce did you plant?
I am going to send in some photos of my Christmas garden displays.
How and Shovel is doing twelve days of Christmas maybe The Dirt guys could do our version of the twelve days of Christmas. Pumpkin
Posted by (Janna) on December 07, 2009
Strawberries - yum! Chip, sounds like you and Diane will have goodies from your garden year-round!
Penny, I love the purple violas and diamond frost that you planted together. I also love pansies and violas, but yes - petunias are right there at the top of my winter color list! After the field trip, I got the new “Rays” in the WHITE pots that Rick told us about. I’ve done nothing except plant them (no deadheading, etc…) and they are literally covered in blooms, creating a blanket of white along the side of the screened enclosure.
Posted by (Janna) on December 07, 2009
I finally have Chinese skullcap sprouts! Yay, and thank you, Eric. Congrats on your second lettuce crop, enjoy those fresh salads!
Pumpkin, looking forward to your Christmas garden photos!
Posted by (Susan Gillespie) on December 07, 2009
I think I missed something. What are “Rays” Are they a Florida Flower Farm special petunia?
Posted by (mangoman) on December 07, 2009
I love to pick u-pick strawberries! I have a few plants but they only produce a nibble’s worth :(
Congrats on the skulcapps Janna!
Posted by (kgardens) on December 07, 2009
Your pansies look so happy. Do you think they would be happy in my mostly shady yard? The euphorbia is beautiful. Is it perennial? OK, I’m being lazy asking. I could look it up
Anyway, your garden is looking quite fresh and lovely. Kay
Posted by (Janna) on December 07, 2009
Yes, Susan - new type of petunia. On the field trip, Rick told us about new “supertunias” and “Ray” petunias. You have to look for them specifically at Home Depot - Rick told us that they would be in WHITE pots, not black. Penny may know a better way to identify them. I’m pretty sure she talked to Rick about it, too. I just looked for the white pots. On Rick’s site floridafriendlyplants.com, you can look under top ten annuals, click on petunias and it will tell you about them.
Posted by (Janna) on December 07, 2009
Kay, I think pansies mostly like sun, but I have some that are doing well in an area that gets filtered sun for 4-5 hours a day… Maybe if you started with one or two and they do well, you could get more. (Can you tell I’m totally a “trial and error - let’s experiment” gardener?)
Posted by (Susan Gillespie) on December 07, 2009
Thanks Janna. I will look for the white pots at Home Depot AND Rick’s website. I love big mounds of petunias
Posted by (Janna) on December 07, 2009
Penny, your sprouts will come! Since I only started planting seeds this year, I have learned that some sprout MUCH faster than others. Just when I’d almost given up on the skullcaps, they are now popping up all over the place (in the pots). If they continue to do well, I can save some for you!
Posted by (Janna) on December 07, 2009
Penny, you will get sprouts! Since this is the first year I’ve really planted from seed, I’ve learned that some things sprout much more quickly than others! I’d just about given up on the skullcaps, when they started popping up all over the place (in the pots). Btw, those new black eyed susan vines I saw growing up your trellis were from seeds you planted, right? Those are going to be gorgeous in different colors….
Posted by (Janna) on December 07, 2009
I didn’t think the first comment went through. Obviously. Lol.
Posted by (Iluvpumpkins) on December 07, 2009
I have looked every time I am at Home Depot for the supertunas and can not find them. My favorite color is purple so I have to get some pansies and violas. I have a very sick friend so I hope to get my Christmas garden pictures posted this week. Pumpkin
Posted by (mangoman) on December 07, 2009
I just cut open my first papaya today (those things smell TERIBLE!) and it was SEEDLESS!!! I looked it up and there is not much for seedless papaya. Some weird thing I guess. I took some pictures of it. It’s got the little places where i seed would form (the little stringy things) but no seeds! its so weird! it tastes fine though
Eric
Posted by (Janna) on December 07, 2009
Eric, you’ll have to send the papaya pics! Guess it doesn’t matter how they smell as long as they taste good. (Hot boiled eggs are like that.) Keep us posted if you find any new information on SEEDLESS papayas!
Posted by (Janna) on December 07, 2009
Pumpkin, thoughts and prayers go out to your friend. I will also look for the supertunias for you..
Posted by (kgardens) on December 08, 2009
I too would like to see that seedless papaya. But, I guess if you ate it…. You guys are so funny. I asked about growing pansies in shade and not one of you said it wouldn’t work. Nope, you want me to keep them in pots and move them around all day looking for sun for them
You would never tell someone NOT to buy a plant would you? I’m probably going to try a few. They are so pretty. And I am definitely getting some of the diamond frost euphorbia. Kay
Posted by (Iluvpumpkins) on December 08, 2009
Penny, I want the supertunias that Rick grows. Manny would only be able to get just the regular ones. If anyone see them let me know. Its the little ones I want. Pumpkin
Posted by (mangoman) on December 08, 2009
I sent Penny pictures everybody! hopefully they will be up soon.
Also you can just google “seedless papaya” and you will probably get some better pictures.
For all you curb shoppers out there: be on the look out for trashed pumkins (make sure they have not been cut) and make a snowman out of them! We did this last year and worked for a few more weeks. Just cut the stem off, paint ‘em white (plus eyes) and stack em!
Eric
Posted by (Janna) on December 08, 2009
Good snowman idea, Eric! Looking forward to the pics…