May Flowers: From 4th Century Greece and Shakespeare’s Romance to the Modern Times
Pansies are cheerful garden flowers with big, flat blooms that often look like little smiling faces. They are hybrids bred from wild violas, and gardeners love them because they flower in cool weather, when most other plants are resting.
Quick Facts
| Common name | Pansy |
| Type | Large-flowered hybrid garden flower |
| Habitat | Cool weather; sun, rich moist soil |
| Size | Flowers 2 to 3 inches wide |
| Colours | Many colours |
| Flowering season | Spring to autumn |
| Height | Up to 9 inches |
What Is a Pansy?
The garden pansy (Viola × wittrockiana) belongs to the violet family. It was created by crossing several wild viola species, especially the little wildflower called heartsease or wild pansy (Viola tricolor). Today the word “pansy” usually means the large-flowered, many-colored hybrids, while “viola” is used for their smaller-flowered cousins.
The name comes from the French word pensée, which means “thought.” People once said the nodding flower looked like a face deep in thought.
A Flower With a Long History
Wild violets and violas have been admired for thousands of years. People in ancient Greece grew and valued violets, and heartsease was traditionally used in European folk medicine.
Shakespeare loved these flowers too. In Hamlet, Ophelia says, “There’s pansies, that’s for thoughts.” In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the juice of a little flower called “love-in-idleness” (another name for heartsease) is used as a magic love potion.
The modern pansy was born in England in the early 1800s. Around 1812, Lady Mary Elizabeth Bennet, daughter of the Earl of Tankerville, and her gardener began crossing different violas in her garden. Other gardeners soon joined in, and by the mid-1800s breeders had produced flowers with bigger petals and the famous dark “face” markings.
What Does a Pansy Look Like?
Each pansy flower has five petals. Two overlapping petals sit at the top, two petals spread out at the sides, and one larger petal sits at the bottom. The bottom and side petals often have fine dark lines or a dark blotch, which help guide bees to the nectar in the center.
Most garden pansy flowers are about 2 to 3 inches (5 to 8 cm) across. The plants are small and bushy, usually 6 to 9 inches (15 to 23 cm) tall and spreading about 9 to 12 inches wide. Flowers come in almost every color: purple, blue, yellow, orange, red, white, and even nearly black.
How to Grow Pansies at Home
Photo by: Liz West
Pick the Right Season
Pansies are cool-weather plants. They bloom best when days are mild and nights are cool, and they tend to fade and get leggy once summer heat arrives. In places with cold winters, plant them in early spring as soon as the ground can be worked. In areas with mild winters, plant them in fall and they can bloom on and off through winter and into spring.
If your summers are hot, choose heat-tolerant varieties and give your pansies some afternoon shade.
Starting From Seed
- Sow seeds indoors about 8 to 10 weeks before you want to move plants outside.
- For spring flowers, sow in mid to late winter. For fall and winter flowers in mild climates, sow in mid to late summer.
- Pansy seeds like darkness and cool temperatures to sprout, so cover them lightly and keep them out of hot spots.
- Space young plants about 7 to 12 inches (18 to 30 cm) apart in the garden.
Sun, Soil, and Water
Pansies grow best in full sun to partial shade. They like soil that is rich in organic matter (such as compost), stays moist, and drains well, so the roots never sit in a puddle.
Water them regularly, especially in dry spells. Thirsty pansies stop flowering, so if your plants look tired, check the soil first. A layer of mulch helps keep the roots cool and moist.
When Do Pansies Flower?
Pansies planted in fall often start blooming in late winter or early spring, around March or April in many places, and keep going until hot weather arrives. Fall-planted pansies usually grow stronger roots and produce more flowers than ones planted in spring.
Before planting young pansies outside, “harden them off” for about a week. This means setting them outdoors for a few hours each day so they get used to sun, wind, and cooler nights. Pansies are tough and can handle light frosts once they are settled in.
Pansies as Cut Flowers and More
- Pansies look lovely in small vases, little jars, and posies.
- Pinch off faded flowers (called deadheading) to keep new blooms coming.
- In warm weather, mulch the plants and trim back straggly stems to help them survive the heat.
- When cool weather returns in fall, trimmed plants often reward you with a fresh burst of flowers.
- Pansy flowers are edible and are sometimes used to decorate cakes and salads. Only eat flowers grown without pesticides, and ask an adult first.
Pansy FAQs
Where does the name pansy come from?
The word pansy comes from the French word pensee. Today it mostly describes big, multi-coloured garden hybrids bred from the viola.
How tall do pansies grow?
Pansies grow up to about 9 inches tall. Their flowers are 2 to 3 inches wide.
Do pansies like hot weather?
No. Pansies like cool weather and bloom best when summer stays below 90 degrees F. In hot climates, plant them in light shade.
When do pansies bloom?
Pansies planted in the fall start blooming in March or early April and keep going until autumn.
Who first bred garden pansies?
In the 19th century, Lady Mary Elizabeth Bennet, daughter of Lord Tankerville, cross-bred violas to make new pansy varieties. She introduced her pansy in 1812.
Randi Jones is the owner and founder of the Nature Gift Store, an online retailer specializing in nature-themed gifts, educational science projects, live animal nature kits and real butterfly artwork. A biology graduate who fell in love with insects, she founded the company in 2001 to make active learning about nature fun, accessible and engaging for children and adults. Her store offers real butterfly frames, home and garden decor and educational live animal kits, including ant farms, worm farms, tadpoles, ladybugs and hermit crabs, and she runs a bug museum in Washington featuring live animals like Eddie the Iguana alongside other reptiles and insects.
