Pansies help me through the grey time. I dread those months shorn of color when the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains turn into a sleepy, hard-furred animal. During winter, I crave warmth and color with an almost primal thirst.
By February, I’m scouring the ground like a mad detective for any tiny green shoots shoving their way through the chilled earth, delighted by their insistence: Spring is nigh.
But I have ways to alleviate the grey time. Pansies are my winter heroes!
Can winter pansies survive snow?
Contrary to their name, pansies (Viola hiemalis) hold up to playground bullies like cold and snow. When it freezes they go limp with shock, but as soon as the winter sun touches them again, they spring back: bright, bold, unintimidated.
Will pansies survive a freeze?
Pansies can tolerate low temps, thriving in cool weather of 40°-60°F and surviving drops below 25°F, which is a freeze. They will wilt to a gray-green, but never fear! Pansies will raise their sweetly upturned faces to the sun as soon as it warms them back up.
Pansies are good neighbors to everything you can grow in an Asheville winter: dwarf evergreens and conifers, winter vegetables, ornamental chards or mustards, hellebores, violas, calendula, snapdragons, trailing lobelia, sweet alyssum and, of course, other pansies!
What temperature will kill pansies in winter?
This is actually less about precise temperature than conditions. How long is the soil below freezing, and has anything has been done to protect them? Mulching around your pansies is a great way to keep them protected and warm throughout winter’s vagaries.
One Grow Tip: increase the chances of your pansies, or any plant, surviving a frost by watering beforehand. Counterintuitive for sure, but a well-watered plant is proven to be more resistant to frost damage.
Pansy Color Schemes
My instinct is to keep my color schemes simple. Yellows with yellows, maybe a few whites or pale oranges for gentle contrast. Purples unto themselves, as they are so magnificent. But do as you please: a parade of multicolored pansies – just like a little girl’s costume party – will delight me no end in the dead of winter!
Pansies mixed with lettuces in a porch container
And don’t forget trailing pansies for hanging baskets or container edges! The WonderFall, Freefall, Plentifall and Cool Wave series are all good and plenty. Just don’t be tempted to pack them in, the way you might with ground-planted pansies. 3 trailing pansies to a 10-to 12-inch container allows the plants room to spread and blossom like champions.
A Few Tips for Winter Pansies:
Plant Winter Pansies in the Fall or Spring when the air is cool
Twice, I couldn’t resist the bounty of pansies at my favorite local nursery and brought them home in August to gussy up my languishing summer garden. Twice, I’ve watched them go limp in the heat or be gnawed to death by pests. Winter pansies make a bad summer purchase.
I’ve learned to wait until late late-September to October (depending on when the heat has passed) to plant or pot them up. They’re far happier in cool air, when it’s the perfect temperature to start growing your winter pansies.
Plant them in the fall and care for them, and your pansies can last up to nine months, from September all the way into May!
For More Blooms Dead-head a Pansy Often
As soon as a pansy bloom droops a little, nip it off at the bottom of the stem with sharp pruners or scissors (fingernails will do too.) The more you lop off fatigued blooms, the more fresh, bright-eyed ones will appear. It’s counterintuitive but true: survival of the prettiest.
If your pansies become leggy or ragged late in the season, just chop off a runner at the base of the stem. Pansies grow back quickly, like magic.
Sometimes a hard freeze will seem to kill them. Don’t be afraid to chop dead material all the way to the base (leaving just a leaf or two to catch the sun.) It’s more than likely your vanquished pansies will rise again, provided you regularly water and feed them a little fertilizer.
Water Pansies Regularly and Fertilize Soil
Water more often than you think! Pansies are beautiful, thirsty creatures; they need to stay moist. The number one reason pansies fail is lack of water.
I water mine every 3 days or so (unless they can catch the rain) and honestly, noticing little droplets of water nestle into the lush green leaves and upturned flower faces gives me a kind of pleasure in grey winter that’s hard to quantify. Pansies look up at you and say, “Life is good!”
Pansies are thirsty darlings, but they also need good drainage. A potting soil with perlite or vermiculite is just perfect. Water pansies often and immediately, if you see them drooping. A light mulch can also help hold moisture.
Feed your pansies a water-soluble fertilizer every 2-3 weeks for dazzling blooms; something in the all-purpose 15-30-15 range is just right.
For a step-by-step guide, here are some principles from The Farmer’s Almanac, always a great source of botanical know-how!
🌳 Read My Tips for Reems Creek | My Favorite for Pansies 🪴
When to Plant Winter Pansies
- Winter Pansies can be planted in the early spring or in the fall.
- Pansies can be finicky to start from seed; it’s a lot easier to buy established plants from a local nursery. Plus, you’ll get blooms a lot sooner.
- But if you want to start from seed, start pansy seeds indoors in late winter 8 to 10 weeks before the last spring frost for early spring and summer flowering. Or, start seeds in late summer for fall and winter flowering. Pansy seeds may be slow to germinate (typically emerging in anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks, depending on soil temperature).
- Set plant winter pasies in the ground when it becomes workable in the spring. They grow best when soil temperatures are between 45°F and 65°F (7°C and 18°C).
- Pansies can tolerate a light frost just after planting, but try to hold off on putting them in the ground if temperatures are still regularly reaching well below freezing.
Where to Plant Pansies
- Plant in moist, humus-rich, well-drained soil. See our articles on soil amendments and preparing soil for planting for more information.
- Pansies like full or partial sun, but need cooler temperatures to thrive. The ideal planting site will get morning sun but avoid the heat of the late afternoon.
- Space the plants about 7 to 12 inches apart. They will spread about 9 to 12 inches and grow to be about 6 to 9 inches tall.
Will pansies survive winter in pots? Care for pansies in Pots
- Pansies are great for containers. Just use standard potting soil designed for containers.
- Plant in portable containers (12 inches or less in diameter) so the plants can be moved to a cooler area when the sun starts to get stronger. Early in the spring season or in the fall, a south-facing patio might be the perfect spot. During the summer, move pansies to the east side of your home for morning sun and afternoon shade.
Grow & Caring for Pansies
- Remember to water pansies regularly. One of the most common reasons pansies fail is because they are not watered enough, so if your pansies 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, though, as this can result in more foliage instead of flowers.
- Remove faded/dead flowers to encourage the plants to produce more blooms and prolong the blooming season.
And finally…
All pansies are part of the viola family (Violaceae), and originally derived from the Viola tricolor, a wildflower of Europe and western Asia known as “heartsease.”
Yet they maintain an alluring mystery. According to Brittanica, “Pansies have been grown for so long a period under such diverse conditions, and in such a variety of forms, that their origin is uncertain.”
The splendor of pansies contains multitudes. Pansies come in blues, oranges, pinks, whites, yellows, reds, purples, lavenders, and stunning bronze. Some are all one color, some are multicolored; some have a face that looks like a tiny, yawning lion.
Lastly, and most surprisingly, you can eat your pansies! They look charming sprinkled atop a salad or placed upon a frosted cupcake. Pansies have a mild minty flavor and make for a perfect edible flourish on salads, soups, or desserts.
Pansies are my winter heroes.
Smiling throughout the harsh temperatures and dark days, they remind me that optimism is always possible. And for the record, whoever conflated “pansies” with weaklings is a fool!
Please consider joining my small list just for local gardeners & letting me know about your gardening journey. It’s just me.