Pansies

The appearance of winter pansies in the garden shops is always a cure for the aforementioned summer doldrums. Cheerful and bright when summer flowers are starting to fade, they will often bloom into late fall. If we have a mild winter they may still be blooming on the porch next spring.

William Thomas, gardener for one Lord Gambier at Iver in England, is thought to be primarily responsible for the cross breeding that gave rise to modern pansies, as described by Dr. John Grimshaw in The Gardener’s Atlas:

In 1813 he brought Thompson some plants of Viola tricolor and suggested that he try to “improve” them. At first Thompson bred for size and colors by simple selection, but he later began to hybridize V. tricolor with other species including the yellow-flowered European mountain plant V. lutea and the purple Siberian V. altaica, which are both perennials.

Some sources indicate that V. cornuta, an alpine pansy from the Pyrenees of France and Spain, was included in later cross breeding that resulted in the today's pansy (Viola x wittrockiana). This alpine pansy was also bred to create the modern viola.

The only problem I have with pansies and violas is the enormous selection. I spend an inordinate amount of time selecting, putting back, picking up and holding next to another color…and so on. This year is no exception. I finally settled on two violas, ‘Penny Beaconsfield’ and ‘Sorbet Yellow Delight’ and two pansies, ‘Crystal Bowl Scarlet’ and ‘Imperial Antique Shades’. I am still watching for ‘Jolly Joker’ a dark purple and orange bi-color that has always struck me as perfect for Halloween.

The pansies were not ready to photograph but below are the two violas.