Cool Tips for the Cool Season

1 Bigger IS better. For those of you in the North, planting into soil that’s roughly 50°F/10°C or cooler in April is your biggest challenge to growth. Buying bigger plants in larger containers will get you over that, or you can try “packing them in.” In the case of violas, Sorbet is best. “Cracking color” is the state you want your plants to be in when you get them. Work with your grower to “harden off” (finish them outside) the pansy prior to plant.

2 Avoid root compaction – period! Disease will easily set in if you plant pansies into compacted soils in the Spring. Compaction doesn’t allow rapid root development and can aggravate water sitting at the root level, leading to water logging and disease. Most growers will apply a fungicide prior to ship. Ask if that’s the case.

3 Lack of feed shortens bed time on pansies. Liquid fertilizer is best 1 to 1.5 weeks after planting to supercharge the roots. Purple leaves means “feed me” (phosphorus in particular). That will get your pansies to look best until the Summer turn. Pansies are one of the low pH-loving plants (others are petunias and primulas).