What To Do With Pansies After Flowering
What to do with pansies after flowering is one of the questions that people intending to get pansies or already growing them ask from time to time. Pansies are some of the first flowers to bloom in early Spring. The plants bloom all the way into Summer and become dormant when the temperatures rise.
If you prepare your pansies during Spring, they can bloom again in Fall when the temperatures drop.
Prepare Pansies to Bloom Again
To prepare your pansies to bloom again after flowering, you need to pinch the seed pods before they fully form. After flowering, the blooms fade and in their place seeds appear. The pansy seeds remain dormant until the following Spring. Pinch the spent flowers from the plant and cut back any extra growth.
As the pansy flowers, check it regularly as often as twice a week for any spent blooms and remove them. The idea is to remove all dying blooms so as to encourage the plant to direct its energy towards developing new growth and new blooms. When removing damaged and dead blooms, be careful not to cause any damage to the rest of the plant.
To promote pansies blooming again you should also keep the soil moist because the flowers love damp soil. You should water regularly to avoid the soil getting too dry. You should also try to apply a phosphorus fertilizer. It is important to note that you should avoid any form of nitrogen fertilizers because pansies don’t handle high levels of nitrogen well.
Trim off any leggy stems and unruly growth from the plant. Any areas of the plant that have uncontrolled growth will mostly produce fewer blooms.
Any seed pods that were missed during the flowering season should be removed.
Replace Dying Pansy Plants
After flowering is over, you should replace any pansy plants that died back or stopped producing blooms. Although some regions enjoy year-round pansy growth, some areas don’t. As a result, most people just plant pansies as annuals or biennials and not as perennials.
You can get new pansy plants from nurseries. It’s advisable to choose busy, stocky pansies that have plenty of buds when making a purchase. You should avoid pansies that already have open blooms because they are already stressed from growing in a small pot.
Establishing Pansies From Seeds
You could also establish your own pansy plants indoors from seeds. To grow pansy seeds, you require around 60 degrees Fahrenheit during germination. The seeds also require darkness to germinate, normally people just cover the soil with black plastic. Always remember to check the soil daily and water it if necessary, to avoid it drying out.
Remove the plastic once you notice the first shoots. The seeds normally germinate in about one to two weeks. It also takes about 15 weeks before the flowers bloom.
It’s advisable to plan ahead and establish the seeds indoors four-six weeks before the beginning of Fall. After the temperatures get warm you can then transplant the established seedlings outdoors.
There are many varieties of pansies and some that you could try include, Bolero pansies which do well in Spring and Fall. They also have semi-double flowers that are large and ruffles. The Freefall pansies which are great for containers. The Joker pansies which are loved because of their blooms that have complementary bicolor and big pronounced faces. Princess pansies that have monochromatic blooms available in different color ranges from purple to cream. The Bingo pansies which bloom early and are available in different colors ranging from light blue to burgundy. Fama pansies which flower during Winter and Spring and are available in both single and mixed colors.
Positioning Pansy Flowers
When establishing new pansies, you should do so in an area that has full sun to partial shade. Although the plants can grow in full sun, they thrive in partial shade and keep blooming for longer. The ideal location receives morning sun but is shielded from the heat of the afternoon sun.
You should also space the pansy flowers and not cloud them together. The ideal spacing is 7 to 12 inches apart which is sufficient for them since they grow to about 9 to 12 inches wide. The flowers also grow to about 6 to 9 inches tall. These dimensions are also useful when establishing pansies in containers.
The pansies are not a bunch of fussy plants and can grow in almost any type of soil. However, they are at their best in slightly acidic soil pH of between 6.0 – 6.2. the soil should also be loose and rich. As earlier noted, pansies don’t like heat and begin to decline as the temperatures rise.
Conclusion
Pansies are awesome flowers that are available in so many colors not to mention they have edible blooms.
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