Q: I am getting ready to plant some pansy seeds, and wanted to know if I should find a partially shady spot, or is there still too much heat? Or, should I just find a sunny location in the house?

A: Pansies need a constant temperature of 70 degrees in order to germinate and grow strongly. It’s possible you could get the low temperature indoors but the plants also require high light conditions to go from seedling to finished plant. Large nurseries buy thousands of small seedling “plugs” from specialized nurseries which concentrate on taking plants from seed to an inch tall. Pansy nurseries are usually located where daytime temperatures are not scorching. Bottom line: producing pansies from seed for fall planting in out high heat is nigh impossible.

Pansy Production