Pansy Plants

Pansy plants – more info

Whether you’re after a rainbow explosion or unfathomable black, pansies provide colour in the garden when not much else is stirring. Window boxes and patio pots aside, these troopers are ideal for filling winter gaps in the border and spicing up winter-themed hanging baskets. Their ability to blossom in shade as well as full sun make them an invaluable tool in the winter garden.

Are pansies edible?

Pansy flowers are edible. Use them to brighten a bowl of salad at dinner or crystallise them in sugar to decorate cakes, cheesecake and whipped desserts. The flowers are so bright and cheerful they transform a plate of food into a fun artwork of colours.

What should I grow with my pansies?

Pansies pair well with their more delicate relatives, violas, and are a fantastic colour component in a mixed winter bedding display. Grow your pansies alongside other winter blooms like cyclamen, hellebores and bellis. Another great place for winter pansies is in the veg patch to companion your leeks, cabbages and kale as they steadily crop through winter. The edible flowers add pizzazz to a winter dish of greens. Don’t forget to use your pansies to cover bare ground covering dormant bulbs so they rise up through the colourful blooms come spring.

What’s the best compost to plant pansies in?

Grow your pansies in a peat free multi-purpose mix like ‘incredipeatfree’ compost, adding a handful of horticultural grit and slow release fertiliser to keep your plants fed. Make sure you use an appropriate size pot to match the root ball. A wide, shallow dish or long window box is ideal for these small plants. If you're planting into the garden, pick a spot with free draining soil. Fork through a few shovelfuls of multi-purpose compost to improve the structure if you need to.