Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
First, I don't know if I'm in zone 7a, Tulsa is NE of OK City, which is zone 7a. Anyway, as you can probably already tell by now, I don't know the 1st thing about planting or taking care of flowers.
However, my son is selling pansies for his band fundraiser and I'm sucker enough to buy some because he says he's the only one who hasn't sold anything. But I don't know what to do with them.
It says they are 4 inch pots, with 18 per flat to be delivered the end of Oct. I haven't ordered yet, but figured I'd order 2 flats, 1 dark blue and 1 either yellow or citrus mix.
I have a spot under a tree that faces north in my front yard where they would be nice, but I don't know if that is an appropriate place. I don't know what I'm supposed to do to prepare the ground, how to plant them, how to maintain them over winter and what to do with them when it warms up.
Basically, I don't know anything about pansies, except that I always thought they were pretty and they are edible. I am hoping all you wonderful experts can give me some advice so I don't break my son's heart when I kill his flowers out of ignorance!
Thanks in advance.
Hardiness Zone: 7a
By Judy = Oklahoma from Tulsa, OK
I have never done anything to prepare the ground for planting flowers other than digging it up. That goes for whatever type of flower that I planted. The main thing is that you have to plant any plant in the amount of sunlight that is required. I would think they would come with directions.
Pansies are the first hint of spring besides the bulb flowers that arise. As soon as the snow is gone and the sunshine hits, they peek out. So, depending on the amount of snow you get, sunshine, just prepare a spot like you would summer flowers, dig up the soil, plot out where you want them, they will come back, they will spread out (not grossly).
Thanks for the advice!
My potted pansies have been doing very well for almost 2 months. Recently they apparently are being eaten by something that I cannot identify. The flowers are disappearing from around the edges until they are almost entirely gone. Is there a natural cure I can use to get rid of this pest? Thank you for your time.
Hardiness Zone: 6a
By Jancie from Archbald, PA
If you can't find the pests, try going out just as the sun starts to set. There are many caterpillars (tomato caterpillars for one) that will hide in a niche in the ground until the sun goes down and it's more cool. Then they come out and munch on your plants. I kept a whole veggie garden rid of caterpillars one year without any chemicals by going on a "hunt" just at that time of the night.
Check out these photos.
Earlier, I posted a picture of some sunken beds I was preparing for pansies. I got them planted and now they are beginning to make a nice display. Shown is one of the five beds.
I could weep. I just made this bed. It's not complete. I'm going to have to make it a bit larger so the blocks will fit properly.
Found in Europe and western Asia the pansy is a hybridization of several species in the genus Viola. They are also some of the cutest, happy, little flowers you can add to your garden.
You can save money by growing pansies from seed. They will need a light loamy soil, high in organic matter, that is kept moist, in order to germinate. This is a page about growing pansies from seed.
