Farewell, You Bunch of Pansies
When I lovingly plant pansies each October, I know this day will come. 
After all, They consipire and turn on me every April. Therefore, I bid my pansies adieu, all 5,000 of them. I’m making room for a bevy of new spring plantings as we speak. I have much more room than last year, though. Sadly, I lost 1600 snapdragons to aphids. Sound familiar?
14 Comments to “Farewell, You Bunch of Pansies”
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Hey Mom! I am gonna miss those flowers…
Great information. Thanks.
Is THAT what’s happening to my modest little flower bed? Aphids? Hmph - I thought it was my legendary black thumb that was wreaking havoc but maybe there’s an actual, legitimate reason.
I am so glad you have this blog!!!! I will be checking it frequently…You’re great!
5,000?
How much do these freakin things cost a piece???
Is there an Aphid discount?
No wonder we get Christmas cards from Nicholson-Hardie
http://www.nicholson-hardie.com/
and Strongs Nursery and Garden.
http://www.lgyp.com/brochure.asp?c=440322
Cripes.
What a huge bunch of pansies. Mine are still looking too good to discard. Maybe in a week or so,I can bear to replace them. Life marches on.
Speaking of discarding winter flowering plants….. I have been transplanting cyclamen from pots or winter color beds to other parts of the garden where they have good drainage and only sporadic water. They came back this year and are blooming all winter. For the winter of 2007, I planted some primroses for color, which survived the winter and the summer to bloom again this year. Now I am planning on transplanting those from winter color beds and pots to see if they will come back. No point in throwing them into the compost if they will survive.
Lee- Please let me know how the transplants do. I absolutely LOVE cyclamen, there is no other winter color that has that look. My sucess has been mixed, but from reading your post, perhaps they were getting too much H2O? Primrose, same story with me. I think mine were getting too much sun after winter. Can you tell me if you covered both the cyclamen and primrose, and if so, how cold?
I did cover the cyclamen when they were in a color bed or in a pot, but the ones transplanted from last year were never covered. They cannot be planted to deeply; the corm needs to be on the surface, and they do not need muvh water. Mine are under trees in a part of the garden that does not get the sprinkler. They go dormant in the summer then pop up again in the fall. I also have the hardy cyclamen, coum, neopolitan, etc. that do very well. They are planted around the roots of a huge oak tree, close to the surface. Some bloom in August and others in February. They are a nice ground cover now. I ordered most of those from catalogues. The flowers on the hardy ones are small, about the size of a finger nail, but profuse. The nursery cyclamen have bigger flowers. The ones that rebloomed this year are the ones with leaves and flowers the size of a quarter.
Hey I remember the snapdragons….I think.. were they in the front last summer?
Yep, I planted them in front, the corner, along the drive, and in front of the breezeway, b/c they did so GREAT last year! (And I really enoyed the cuttings…but this years was all about pinks, reds and violets, not the yellow.)I was duped! The aphids came early and strong. I know several people who lost everything except pansies.
Where I come from, 5000 pansies on the same street is called a Parade. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
wow, that is truely amazing. i cant believe you did all of that! thats some hard work right there.
sweeeeetie- i’m w/ bella- all that hard work. miss you!