A Garden Charmer

By Ms Sherry

Published: December 13, 2008

‘Violet Picotee’ panolas

Although the days have gotten very cold here in East Central Alabama and dark comes at about 4:30 PM, it is still a fine time to get out and work in the yard. Some of you may call it work; to me it is fun. One day last week I raked up (with some help) enough leaves to fill a landfill. It was a beautiful cold, but crisp, day and the work was invigorating. My helpers repotted some dwarf Japanese maples that had out-grown their pots, Now is a good time for that garden task (as well as transplanting anything that needs a new home) as the shrubs/trees can concentrate on adjusting to their new environment without working to maintain their foliage. We planted about 80 daffodil and crocus bulbs with the aid of a wonderful bulb planter from Brent and Becky’s Bulbs.( If you haven’t made your wish list yet this year, this gadget would be a wonderful addition to your tool shed.)

The recently planted pansies got a layer of mulch with pine straw collected from a neighbor’s yard. I hope that you have added some of these little charmers to your garden, either in planters or in a color bed.  Pansies are a delight and should be part of everybody’s winter and spring garden. In my 39 years in the same house there has been only one year without pansies. That particular year my college-age daughter came home for the weekend, looked around, and asked where the pansies were. Today ten flats of pansies, their precious faces brightening every corner of the sunny garden—some in pots and some in the ground—are planted around the yard. Pansies are not demanding, troublesome creatures. They have simple needs: six hours of sun, fertile loose soil, some slow release fertilizer at planting time, and doses of water soluble fertilizer every two weeks once the show begins (especially during the occasional warm spells in February). Dead heading keeps the blooms coming and keeps them neat and happy. Dead heading a bed of pansies is one of the nicest winter afternoon chores. What pansies will give you back can’t be measured. Their glorious smiling faces will cheer even the dreariest of days. It is not too late to add a few pansies to your garden, especially in containers. The other day while shopping at one of the big box home improvement stores I noticed a new shipment of glorious violas and pansies nestled among the Christmas foliage. If your ground is already frozen, it may be too late to plant them in a bed but once early spring arrives you can add them then. Fall (after the hot dry days have passed) is the best time to plant; the nurseries will have a bountiful selection beginning around Halloween. Since deer love to eat pansies as much we like to admire them, a frequent spray of deer repellant is also a good idea.

This year I purchased seven flats of ‘Violet Picotee’ panolas, one flat of orange panolas and a flat of a new viola called ‘Penny Peach Jump- up’ which I mixed with a flat of with ‘Sorbet Coconut’. The panola is a cross between a pansy and a viola and it has the best of both worlds –  the typical larger pansy face and the numerous blooms of the violas.

As a gardener and lover of growing things I can’t imagine my life without pansies – planted so that everywhere I look out of the kitchen window their velvety faces greet me. And then, too, nothing brightens the inside like a bouquet of pansies.