Ep 203. Violet and Pansy Season of Happiness

Mary Stone discusses how Violets and Pansies bring joy to our gardens and pots in the cool seasons of Spring and Fall. She revisits bits of Vicki Johnson's story, shared in Episode 202, of how pansies grown by her mother, a Swiss giant pansy in particular, inspired her to start gardening. 

Mary explains the differences between Pansies and Common Blue Violets from the Viola genus, as well as how and where to plant them. She clarifies the differences between short-lived perennials, biennials, annuals, and perennials. 

The episode concludes with her reminiscing about her mother's influence on her gardening journey and encouraging listeners to share their own stories about gardens and nature by emailing her at AskMaryStone@gmail.com.

Related Podcasts and Posts: 

Ep 202. Pansies Bring Vicki Johnson's Garden Start

Ep 18. Walking & Plalking, Queens & Bachelors

Queen Anne’s Lace Anomaly – Blog Post 

Ep 51 Plants for Nooks and Crannies

Favorite Plants Between Steppingstones - Blog Post

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I'd love to hear your garden and nature stories and your thoughts about topics for future podcast episodes. You can email me at AskMaryStone@gmail.com.

You can follow Garden Dilemmas on Facebook and Instagram #MaryElaineStone.
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Thank you for sharing the Garden of Life,
Mary Stone, Columnist & Garden Designer
                                        AskMaryStone.com

More about the Podcast and Column:

Welcome to Garden Dilemmas, Delights, and Discoveries.

It's not only about gardens; it's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learned from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So, let's jump in in the spirit of learning from each other. We have lots to talk about.

Thanks for tuning in, Mary Stone
Garden Dilemmas? AskMaryStone.com
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Transcript

Ep 203 - A Violet and Pansy Season of Happiness

Sun, Apr 27, 2025 10:12AM • 9:47

 00:00

Mary, Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. I'm Mary Stone, and welcome to garden dilemmas, delights and discoveries. It's not only about gardens. It's about nature's inspirations, about grasping the glories of the world around us, gathering what we learn from mother nature, and carrying these lessons into our garden of life. So let's jump in the spirit of learning from each other, we have lots to talk about.

00:27

Hello there. It's Mary Stone on the screen porch, and I was hoping to get out here before the peepers started singing. Actually, I'm not regretting that they're starting their singing, but soon they're going to be so loud. Dusk is falling. I'm in my crazy busy season, which is always a delight. But there's two sides of that story, because there's something about spring that just brings out this urgency in people. You know, we can plant plants all season long. There are exceptions to that story, but everyone has this urgency to get everything in the ground, and we're only in the middle, actually a little bit late, part of April, and there's still the risk of frost here in New Jersey. So, I don't advise folks to plant a lot of things, although there are many things you can plant this time of year. 

01:14

Well, thank you for sitting with me, and thank those of you that wrote back after last week's chat about Vicki's story, we're going to have a sequel to that story, in a way, Vicki's love of gardening that turned into a passion and a career, stemmed from her mother's love of gardening as well, which blossomed in her late season of life, and the special delivery of a Swiss giant pansy flower, which leads to this week's story that starts like this,.

01:42

Hello, fellow lovers of all things green. We all love the faces of pansies, bringing happiness to our spring gardens and pots, and they resemble our native common blue violets and are related as members of the viola genus. Viola sororia, also known as wooly blue violet or wood violet decorates our lawns in early spring with heart shaped leaves and sweet-smelling purple flowers that pollinators crave. 

02:10

I adore how they've made their way amongst the patio and surrounding boulder wall. In fact, it's one of the lovelies we chatted about in episode 51 plants for nooks and crannies, also featured as a blog post of my favorite plants between steppingstones. It's a shame that fastidious turf fanatics consider them a weed as the perfect lawn of grass doesn't support wildlife, including pollinators that support us. Some say common blue violet can be invasive. But how can something so beautiful and edible, both the flowers and leaves are high in vitamin A and C, be considered so. Instead, view them as ambitious.

02:52

 Pansies, Viola × wittrockiana, is a hybrid, and they have larger faces and come in a vibrant array of colors with classic blotchy faces contrasting with the rest of their flower petals. Common blue Violets are smaller, usually blue, although they come in purple and white. I see their little faces too, perhaps not as distinctive as pansies, but I adore how some sport demure freckles.

03:21

Thriving best in well-drained soil that is slightly acidic or neutral pH, pansies grow six to 12 inches tall and wide in full sun to partial shade. Violets are typically four to eight inches tall and are more adaptable to a wide range of soils, thriving in full to part shade. 

03:42

Pansies and native common blue violets make lovely garden companions, as do Dianthus coral bells, which is heuchera, and the sweet-smelling annual alyssum, which I love to use in my garden pots in the spring during the summer, and actually, they're great in your vegetable garden too. Plant pansies in early spring, once the ground has thawed, as they prefer temperatures between 45 and 65 degrees. I like to add two to three inches of leaf mold around the plants to retain moisture and keep the soil cool.

04:16

While we treat them as annuals in zones six to 10, they may show their little faces next season, as they're considered short lived perennials. So that's an interesting concept, short lived perennials. You know, perennials come back every year. Annuals live only one year. So, what is a short-lived perennial? I had to do some research, and it turns out short lived perennials live about three to five years, as compared to biennials that complete their life cycle in two years, such as Queen Anne's lace, black eyed Susans, Fox gloves and hollyhocks. We spoke about Queen Anne's lace way back in episode 18, Walking and Plalking Queens and Bachelors. I adore that episode, and I pick up trash still.  It's an exercise, and it helps our Earth. 

05:07

In warmer climates, zone seven and higher, pansies are best planted in late summer or early fall when temperatures cool. They will bloom through the winter months, and you can over winter them by adding layers of straw. They'll only live a few years, though, but they will self-seed readily.

05:26

You may recall from last week that when Vicki's mom would call on the weekends to share her gardening adventures. She talked about her pansies and the woman that sold them to her. They were called Swiss giants, and how she wished that Vicki could see them, and two days later, Vicki received a package of a gorgeous single flower that fit in the palm of her hand. I went and looked online to see if I could find the Swiss giants. And I did find seeds on the botanical interest website who states that the Swiss heirloom is the parent of most of the pansies we see today, and it's an all American selections winner in 1933. How fitting that Vicky's mother's pansy is a parent of the glorious pansies We adore today. Garden dilemmas. AskMaryStone.com

06:23

Did you ever hear of Johnny jump ups? I went down this rabbit hole when I was doing this Viola research. That is another plant in the viola genus, and I always thought it was a beneficial plant because it looks like a mini pansy. But as it turns out, it's from Eurasia, and it's become invasive in many areas, although they too are delicious to eat - all aspects of them, and they are very cute miniature versions of pansies. So, there you go, information you find that sounds favorable, you dig in further and realize maybe not so much. That is why it's important we always look into the facts of things and not necessarily listen to what is broadcast to us, because there are truths and there are exaggerations that work in the favor of people's agendas, don't they? But thank goodness for our dear Earth and for each other and for all that we can learn in this garden of life.

07:18

Listening to Vicki's story draws me to reminisce about pansies in my life. I remember Mother's Day when I gifted my mom a watercolor of pansies on two small frames that I painted, knowing how she adored their little faces, as I do. And it's also interesting, by the way, that many people call pansies garden violets. So, there's a lot of confusion between pansies and violets and viola. I hope I helped you be able to identify their unique characteristics and similarities, sharing the viola genus.

07:51

Thinking about Vicki's story, how our worlds have overlapped. I mean, I met her when we were part of the Garden Show. That was every March, Vicki and I worked on a program for the Spring Fest Garden Show one year, and became fast friends. And marveling over our overlapping knowing of Mr. D'Angelo and D’Angelo’s Garden World that was there when I first moved into the area, 25 years ago. So I want to hear about your garden start, and of course, I can't help but reminisce about mine, which was inspired by my mom. She started working at a garden center, and I used to love to tag along, and I began digging in the dirt thanks to mom, who introduced me to gardening via 4h.

08:36

And once old enough to tag along, I became her apprentice at the garden center. The marvel of food and flowers growing in the dirt became rooted in me. And so while we miss our moms and our relatives that are on the other side, the memories live forever in our hearts, as do the plants that they pass forward in our gardens and in our memories.

08:58

Thank you for sitting with me, and of course, now the peepers are getting quiet again. I love them. I sleep out here on the porch, and sometimes I have to admit, they keep me awake, but I relish them, because it just sings spring. I look forward to the next time on the screen porch. Have a great day. 

09:17

You can follow garden dilemmas on Facebook or online at Garden dilemmas.com and on Instagram at hashtag Mary Elaine Stone. Garden dilemmas, delights and discoveries is produced by Alex Bartling. Thanks for coming by. I look forward to chatting again from my screen porch and always remember to embrace the unexpected in this garden of life. Have a great day.