Pansies (other names - viola, violet tri-color) are a perennial plant from the family of violet. Due to the variety of its colors, they rightly won a place of honor among early-flowering plants. When other plants are just beginning to grow, in the pansies, flowers of extraordinary beauty and color can already be observed: yellow, red, blue, orange. If you decide to plant a pansy, you should know that the flowering period of the plant is almost six months - from the moment of the first frosts to the deep autumn.
Pansies: planting, growing and caring
The plant is unpretentious in the care and therefore is particularly popular with beginner gardeners.
Pansies are a winter-hardy and shade-tolerant plant. However, when choosing the site for planting, it should be preferred to its placement in a sunny or slightly shaded part of the site.
How to plant a pansy?
Before planting the plant in the open ground, it is necessary to grow it from seeds. To do this, in February, the seeds are placed in a pot with moist soil and covered with a plastic bag for faster growth.
In April, after the first sprouts appeared, they must be dived. Further pansies are left for a short time in a warm room.
In early May, sprouts can be planted in the soil. If you are going to grow pansies on the garden, then loamy, fertile soil will do.
Systematically, the beds should be weeded and loosened.
Due to the fact that they have a compact root system, they are able to transfer the transplant throughout the year. However, in winter it is desirable to still provide the plant with peace.
How to feed the pansies?
Once a month, you can feed the plant with mineral or organic fertilizers.
How to water a pansy?
If the weather is dry, it will be necessary to provide copious watering. However, you should observe a certain water regime to avoid stagnation of water in the soil, otherwise the pansies may start to rot, as a result of which the flower will simply die.
After each watering or rain, the soil must be loosened.
If you want to delay the flowering period of a violet tricolor, then the faded flowers should be cut off so that the plant does not expend the energy on their feeding. After the ripening of the fruits, the aerial part of the plant begins to age and quickly dies. As soon as the seed capsules have formed in the pansies, the distribution of the viola is self-seeding.
Pansies: pests
The plant can be affected by such pests and diseases as:
- aphid;
- red spider mite;
- rot (root, stem, black);
- powdery mildew;
- blackleg.
Aphids are found most often in pansies.
If the plant grows in a place of high humidity, then it is subject to attack slugs and snails.
To avoid the attack of pests that can infect seedlings, seedlings and the flowers themselves, one should properly take care of the plant
Thanks to its long blossom, pansies and balconies adorn the pansies, put them in street vases and flower gardens. In landscape design, violets are often used to frame an alpine slide . They can also be planted on the plot as a supplement to such flowers as daffodils, forget-me-nots, tulips and other bulbous plants.
With proper care, observance of the temperature and water regime, pansies are able to please you with their flowers for a long time. They can be grown not only on the garden plot, but also at home.