Question
hi
how do you keep pansies and violas flowering for longer?
how do you keep them from year to year?
will they survive a harsh winter?
what pest are they prone to?
what is the difference between them both?
which variety of pansy has the largest flowers?
i know there are summer and winter flowering ones, but are they any that flower year round?
when they get leggy, should i take them out?
last one, when do you sow the seeds?
thank.

Answer
hello Daniel

I'm a newcomer on here and your my first question.
Pansies and Violas are grown in every garden and are very popular bedding plants. Most people grow them as annuals and biennials. (Pansies as annuals and Violas as biennials). They are short-lived perennials but they do get leggy after the first season and are best discarded. You can cut them back to promote more flowers and foliage. The best way to keep them flowering for longer is to dead-head them and give them a feed every two weeks or so. They are hardy plants and will survive the winter and they do not need protecting under-glass. Some will survive a harsh winter better than others and it depends on the variety chosen. The best Viola to choose for this purpose is the 'Sorbet' series. These are well known for their winter hardiness. The pest they can be attacked by are aphids and Pansy wilt. Buy a fungicide for the latter before the trouble starts and get an insecticide and spray it on the plants at the first sign of aphids. Pansies and Violas are bred from the Viola Tricolor and Viola Cornuta. The best way to tell each of the two types apart is that Violas have much smaller flowers and Pansies have larger flowers and more rounded petals. Pansies are also much larger plants and they have a shorter life-span than Violas when grown as perennials. The variety with the largest flowers is the old faced variety, 'Swiss Giants', and this one flowers is summer. The winter one with large flowers is the 'Forerunner'. The variety to get for year-round flowering is the 'Clear Crystals'. These are large flowered and self-colored, in a wide range of colors# white to black#. The best Viola for year-round flowering is the 'Sorbet'. Violas tend to flower is spring or summer but you do get them flowering in winter too. One thing to learn about Pansies and Violas is that they are cool season plants and flower better in low temperatures. Some flower is summer but these have been bred like that. The winter flowerers do flower in winter but the frost can damage the flowers and the main displays is spring. As i said, the best Pansy for year-round flowering is the 'Clear Crystals'. When they get leggy, people discard them but if you cut them back, they produce new foliage and flowers, as i said earlier, and they will grow more compact. Pansies and Violas are mainly grown from seed sown under-glass in spring and bedded out in May. The winter flowering types are sown in the open in June or July and bedded out in autumn. The 'Turbo' Pansies are sown under-glass in September for flowering in spring and summer. Hope i have helped you and thanks for contacting me. Good Bye for now.