Now for a seed fanatic like me, it is hard to breakdown and buy a plant unless it is absolutely necessary. This weekend it was necessary. In the spring, I like to put pansies out front. Once the summer heat starts, I am going to move them to the back of the house to the shady part of my herb garden.
Now don’t forget about their smaller cousins, violas.  The flower of a viola is much smaller than a pansy but looks very similar. The nickname for violas are Johnny Jump Ups – sorry but I don’t know the history behind this name! Also, you can eat the flowers for both plants, but I just can’t bring my self to do that because they are too pretty!
If you want to grow pansies or violas from seed, check out burpee.com for the best selection of pansy and viola seeds. For pansy seeds, I love the following colors and mixes:
- Moulin Rouge – the flowers are ruffled, have bright colors and grow to about 2 1/2 inches
- Ruby Mix – this mix has pansies with different shades of ruby and deep pink – beautiful!
- Panola Pink Shades Mix – This mix has different shades of pale pink flowers with red streaks or whiskers coming from the middle – check it out!
- Plentifall Frost -This one has shades of white and pale blue in the petals and darker blue streaks or whiskers coming from the middle.
- Ocean – these pansies have a deep purple middle with lighter purple around the edges.
- Antique Shades Mix – this mix includes beautiful soft shades of orange, yellow and red – my description does not do it justice!
While you are looking at pansy seed ideas, check out Pansy Bewitched from Botanical Interests. This mix has black and orange flowers – Happy Early Halloween! Also, they offer Pansy Got the Blues Seeds.
We will talk about viola seed ideas next time.
