My client has some that have run amok. They must have come from an original planting of pansies, and have seeded themselves all over. They bloom in the spring-early summer, kind of go dormant in the heat, then start to grow and bloom again end of summer til Nov. I believe most of them overwinter, but it doesn't matter because they seed themselves with abandon. Most are in the purple shade, but some variations of light violet, reddish violet, white.

They are actually a nuisance and I hesitate to give them to anyone. They seed themselves like a weed, I have never seen anything like it. You're welcome to some if you want to contact me next spring. I mulched her garden good this fall but I'm sure there will still be zillions coming up.

ps--has anyone else had a problem with pansies being invasive?

So would you consider them to be a living mulch? I don't want something that's going to turn into another goutweed, rudbeckia, or witchgrass! If they are easily pulled out like forget-me-nots, feverfew or poppies, then I would take some, gladly!
BTW, my birthday is August 18th, and my gardens sound a LOT like yours! Must be something about Leos. Has anyone ever seen a gardener's horoscope done?
Martha

Veilchen,

We had trouble with violas becoming invasive. They spread from the flower bed into the lawn where they still live because they grow underneath the lawnmower. I guess they eventually will spread into the nearby woods and become a wild flower.

MM

Martha,

"I want to be able to winter them over with a mulch of straw."

At the moment I don't know if you can do that. I have some unprotected pansies that I set out early this spring and they bloomed all year until cold weather set in. For the best sustained bloom they require a lot of deadheading or they will set seed. I am still in the mode of starting new plants under lights each year.

Actually, if you want to start your own plants under lights, now isn't too early to be thinking about setting up your plant stand and fluorescent lights and starting the seed. Pansies grow slowly from seed. Some pansy seed doesn't require cold treatment, but some does, and the seed packages don't always say, so I think to be on the safe side I will cold treat all of my pansy seed this year. Last year I didn't and got disappointingly low germination rates. Year before I did and got good germination. Of course this last year I was using seed "left over" from the previous year, so maybe my lower germination was because I wasn't using fresh seed. I need to start storing my seed in a refrigerator anyway, although that may not "count" as cold treatment.

When I cold treated my pansy seed I simply planted the flat, wrapped it in plastic wrap and put it the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. That may not have been the best way, but I did get good germination when I took the tray out.

The Wikibooks have a brief article on pansy culture.

Pansies are really very pretty, but they do seem to need a lot of deadheading that I sometimes don't have time to do.

There are some nice new varieties of pansies this year. Park's Whopper Pansies are described as "weather tough." The Atlas series of pansies from Stokes Seeds are suited for colder climates. Pansies are classified as bi-annuals, so I don't know how nice the plants would look in their second year. My pansy plants were becoming a bit bedraggled by the end of this season. Setting a bunch of seeds seemed to "take the life out of them."

MM

I read an article somewhere in the past few days about a man up near Bangor who is doing this. His dad or grandfather did it before him. I figure if he can, I can!
Thanks for the variety ideas!
Martha

Yes Martha I'd say they're invasive. In some places they appear to actually form a living mulch. I pull them out and more pop up.

MM seems to have the inside track on pansies!

I don't have any scientific info, but with the snow melted now, I can see my volunteer pandoras box pansy's, (they had been growing in a big glazed pot which has been put away months ago)and they are not just alive, but there is a bloom! Go figure!

~Kim