Question
I live in richmiond,va and a friend has a bunch of cali lilly's and we want to
know when is a good time to dig some up and plant them in my yard? Also, when
should you plant winter pansy's?  

Answer
Calla Lilies are busy growing right now.  Roots are active, Chloroplast cells are working overtime, Xylem and Phloem are moving at high speed to get nutrients and water to tissues up and down, it is High Season and Callas are consumed with responsibilities.  Moving them at this time would be a traumatic exercise for this poor Calla collection.

Much better if you wait until Autumn, when metabolism slows and they are half sleeping with winter preparations are underway.  You can winter them indoors in your basement.

In Spring, after the last frost has passed, place them in the ground outside and watch them thrive.

Your 'Winter Pansies' (aka 'Ice Pansies') are delightful flowers that bloom through freezing temperatures like a fish in water.  The famous English seed purveyors, Thompson and Morgan of Ipswich, point out that these frosty so-called 慦inter Pansy?monikers are fairly recent marketing devices.  Growers wanted to highlight the Pansies?preference for Spring and Winter temps.  Notes T&M, 'Winter flowering Pansies have received a great deal of publicity in recent years but there have been varieties of this sort listed for many years...From 1979 the massive promotion of the Universal Pansies as a genuine Winter flowering variety increased people's awareness of the idea and posters showing them flowering in the snow fostered the idea that they really did flower all Winter.'  So when you ask me about Winter Pansies, you are really just asking about the best way to grow the hardiest, most outstanding cool-weather Pansy performers.  Capeech?

T&M reports that England抯 Springfield Gardens once tested some 'Winter Pansies' back in 1990 and 1991.  At the end of the season, they rated them.  Notably, none of the 'Winter Pansies' tested flowered exceptionally well during the coldest months of Winter.  English Winters are milder than the ones we have here on Long Island, and MUCH milder than the ones in your region, so don抰 expect your Winter Pansies to bloom with abandon in the snow and sleet.  They will however do very well when it is very cool, and the fact that they bloom at all when snow is on other ground -- well, how can you not be impressed?

For your notes, the Winter-blooming winner at Springfield Gardens was 'Favourite', a French Pansy.  

Want to grow these?  This T&M Pansies page posts lots of growing tips:

http://seeds.thompson-morgan.com/us/en/articles/pansies

About.com Gardening Guru Maria Iannotti devotes a whole page to growing Pansies:

http://gardening.about.com/od/plantprofiles/p/Pansies.htm

You can start them from seed indoors.  Iannotti shares a few tricks for getting these to germinate.  'Pansies can be difficult to start from seed. They require cool temperatures (60 to 65 degrees F.) and darkness to germinate.  Covering the soil with black plastic will help germination, but the soil should be checked daily to make sure it doesn抰 dry out under the plastic.? She says you抣l see seedlings in 1 to 2 weeks.  They bloom when they reach but allow 15 weeks.

When weather is balmy, set the plants outside.  Ideally, you should place them in a sheltered area protected from harsh winds and cold rains or, alternately, near a foundation with a southern exposure.

Thanks for writing.