I always plant a couple pots of pansies as soon as they are available. I love them and they are a great burst of gardening and color after our long winters. The it gets warmer and they start struggling a bit and I usually replace them with some other annual. I hate dumping them-what do you all do with your pansies? Do you cut them back and save them? Do you toss them like I do? Is there a way to keep them from getting leggy as the summer progresses?
Thanks!

I would like to know also. I love pansies but avoid them like I do petunias and for the same reason - they get so straggly so early on in the summer. I guess I could plant in succession and as one set goes straggly, dig them up and replace with the next group. Just an idea.

Maybe someday someone will "make" a sturdier pansy

I cut them back and they will grow again and by late summer and early fall they are lovely again. The colors get even more vivid as it gets cooler in the fall.

I was just reading about Proven Winners Pansiola-supposed to be more heat tolerant. Might have to try some this year.

I am always surprised to read about heat in Minnesota. I always think about your terrible cold winters. I assume a Pansiola would be a cross between a pansy and a viola which should make it hardier and I would think sturdier.

It gets warm and humid here-then we have a thunderstorm and it cools down:) I love the heat, not the humidity, but its better than snow! 90 degrees is warm here.
That's my understanding about the Pansiola-I'm going to give them a try, but for now I have some good old pansies to put out this weekend.

dmurray407 said:I always plant a couple pots of pansies as soon as they are available. I love them and they are a great burst of gardening and color after our long winters. The it gets warmer and they start struggling a bit and I usually replace them with some other annual. I hate dumping them-what do you all do with your pansies? Do you cut them back and save them? Do you toss them like I do? Is there a way to keep them from getting leggy as the summer progresses?
Thanks!

I cut them back and plant them in semi shade as they don't seem to like the strong sun or heavy heat.

I bought a couple freckle faced violets one year. They were so pretty, I thought they'd look nice in some of my flower pots. I always bring my plant tags inside and research them if I didn't already know them. Low and behold, I discovered that these delicate little plants should survive in my cold northern climate! So, I put them in the ground that fall, just to see how they would do, not really expecting much. Wow! They were the best bang-for-the-buck I ever spent on outdoor plants! I absolutely love seeing them in my flower beds and they spread if I leave the bark mulch away from them. I now have many different little clumps of beautiful green leaves in my shade gardens. They do flower each year, but they are small and don't stay long, which is fine because it's the beautiful leaves that made me pick them up in the store. I love them!

You can see one clump in this photo, just left of the big clump of daylily leaves. These plants were all moved into this newly expanded bed that I reworked last summer. The picture was taken just after I moved these all into the expansion area.

A previous renter left me this potted pansy last fall. Here it is in its current state. Is it done for, or can I coax it into flowering at some point?

They may do better in part shade?

Welcome to Garden.org, @boymommn !

The plants in your container don't look like pansies to me... the stems look woody? I wonder if something else grew up in the pot after the pansies had died out?

Sort of the opposite, but I have Johnny Jump-Ups growing in just about every container I have!

Sandy is more observant than I am.
Those are not pansies----they look like perhaps cuttings of something?

@boymommn -- there wouldn't happen to be something written on the back of that pansy label, would there? (I've been known to do that sort of thing myself... )

Weedwhacker said:@boymommn -- there wouldn't happen to be something written on the back of that pansy label, would there? (I've been known to do that sort of thing myself... )

No, nothing else written. Could just be the wrong label stuck in the pot. Here they are after another week of growth. Maybe some tree seeds got implanted?

"Maybe some tree seeds got implanted?"

Could be... are there any trees or shrubs nearby with similar-looking leaves? You could also try posting your photo on the Plant ID forum -- maybe someone there can identify it for you

Looks like juvenile cottonwood's

I know this is an older post, but I've had amazing luck with my pansies so I thought I'd reply anyway, for what it's worth. I have several pansies that I planted in the early spring in pots and then put in planters outside my front door. We get LOTS of sun there during all seasons, and I was advised to water them every morning to help keep their roots cool. I did, and I dead-headed them from spring until now. I'm in zone 5b and it's getting pretty cold now, but they just keep flowering! They're beautiful and healthy, and have new buds even though they were beaten by rain yesterday and today. I feel strange because all my neighbors have gotten rid of their spring/summer flowers and have put out the hardy chrysanthemums. I'm the only one with pansies still out there! But I still love them and me being me, I tell them so daily.

The same person who advised me about keeping their roots cool said she put them under her deck during the winter (it snows here and sometimes gets as cold as -20 with windchill) and they lived and flowered the following spring. That's why I planted them in pots--so that I could easily remove them from the planters and place them under my deck for the winter. I'll let you all know what happens with them in the spring of 2017!

I should mention that I sometimes use Miracle Gro Bloom Booster Flower Food with them. Oh, and my marigolds are still in full bloom mode too! HTH.

Joanna, it sounds like you had a great season for your pansies -- I hope they will winter over and come back for you in the spring! I rarely grow pansies but their smaller relatives, Johnny-Jump-Ups, grow all over my veggie garden and have started popping back up and blooming again recently. First thing to be blooming in the spring, last thing in the fall...

Weedwhacker said:Joanna, it sounds like you had a great season for your pansies -- I hope they will winter over and come back for you in the spring! I rarely grow pansies but their smaller relatives, Johnny-Jump-Ups, grow all over my veggie garden and have started popping back up and blooming again recently. First thing to be blooming in the spring, last thing in the fall...

Thanks Sandy, I am still having a good one--I hope! It really rained hard here today! But I wouldn't have had any luck had I not spoken with someone who has experience. That's why I'm loving this site so much!