Perennial pansies

[GSD4ME]

How do I grow perennial pansies from seed - I have a selection of lovely looking pansy seeds (well, they look nice on the packet picture) and it says that they can be grown as perennials. However, I have also read that this phrase can be misleading as they may not last more than one year.

Any help/suggestions?

[Clanad]

Pansies have usually gained an unfair reputation for being less than hardy.  However, here in the western U.S. where winters can be quite severe, I've had pansies that were blooming in the fall when the first snow fell and when the snow melted in the spring, they were still blooming!  As a matter of fact, pansies tend to self seed.  I've constructed a brick walk way in the rose garden and added pansies for color and now I have pansies coming up between the cracks in the bricks... I would think the winters and maximum low temperatures in the UK are, on the whole, milder than here, therefore, I would believe they would do well as perennials.  At any rate... since you already have the seeds, Good Luck!

[ursula62]

Pansy seeds are quite small, so they are difficult to sow thinly. A gardening book suggests mixing them with an equal quantity of sharp sand and then sprinkling that on top of the potting compost.

Pansies do self seed - and once they start to seed, the flowers die off. So you need to dead head pansies as soon as the flowers start to wilt - that way they will continue to flower for months on end. Spring flowering pansies have a different flowering period to the autumn ones, so its best to sow some now and some later in the year, but if you let some (not all) of your pansies seed then you will have flowers most of the year.

They do survive frosts and snow, but they don't flower all year round and the green plants look a bit boring in the bedding if they're all together, if you mix them in with other plants then you'll be ok.  

Pansies get mildew and they are also prone to caterpillar and aphid infestation. Slugs love them, but can't get at them if you put them in a hanging basket!