How to grow and care for pansies.

Pansies are biennial flowering plants that come in many colours yellow, orange, violet, red, purple and other bicolours. These flowers can grow up to 9 inches tall and 3 inches in diameter. They can spread for about 2 feet. Both the pansies blooms and leaves are edible, and these flowers can be used as colouring agents and they are rich in Vitamin A and C. Here’s how to grow pansies from seeds in containers.

Growing Conditions

Pansies love well-draining rich soil. They grow well when they receive sunlight during the morning and shade in the afternoon. These plants need regular watering to keep the soil moist. Pansies are not heat-tolerant and grow best during the fall and spring seasons.

How to grow pansies from seeds

You can start your seeds 6 to 8 weeks before the last frost date. You can transplant them when the soil has warmed up during the spring season. Before transplanting your pansies make sure to amend the soil in garden beds with compost or aged manure. If you are growing pansies in containers, take a container that is 9 inches deep. You can plant a single pansy in a 9-inch container. Pansies take about 3 weeks to germinate. The optimum temperature for pansies to grow is between 7°C to 18°C (45°F to 64°F). You can feed your plants with a liquid fertiliser once a month to promote healthy growth and blooms. Pansies start to flower after 90 days after sowing.Regular deadheading can increase blooms in your plants. Pansies are not heat tolerant and start to affected when temperatures are too warm.

Pests and diseases

Pansies can get attacked by several fungal diseases such as Anthracnose leaf spot and Cercospora leaf spot.
Powdery mildew and downy mildew are other diseases that can attack your pansies. Amending the soil with neem cake can prevent fungal diseases in plants.