I agree on those Johnny Jump Ups. They sit in snow and still bloom - well almost. I tried to grow some from seed but no soap. I have volunteers all over the garden, not just JJU but even some regular pansies. Don't know if they are coming from seeds or from roots.

Wonderfully good news: Despite the snow and cold temps yesterday, my pansies look rather beaten down, but they still have beautiful, perky flowers! I liked them before, now I LOVE them!

Mary, my guess would be from seeds... my jump-ups reseed very prolifically... but the young plants that are just coming up this time of year to seem to manage to overwinter, as well. I wish they were easier to collect seed from so I could plant them "on purpose" ! (I have managed to collect some seed, and it will grow for me, but those little pods break open and scatter their seeds generally before I get to them, for the most part.)

I have been successful in transplanting the plants themselves to spots I would like them to grow. There is a strip, maybe 40" by 35' between the duplex next door and our house, down the driveway. It is an absolute mess. Had three trees that were failing but nevertheless dropped leaves, stems, berries on our drive and cars (as that is the way the wind blows and the trees leaned). The new owner agreed to remove two and the third got taken out when their drive had to be dug up at the end by the city. When the end 10' was put back (just treated timbers down each side and one on the end where their mailbox was) I told the young lady renting that side that I would plant a few things there just to spruce it up. I refused to consider trying to clean up the mixture of tree roots, large bark, weeds, etc the cover the remaining 20 feet. I put some iris, lamium, lilies, crocus, daffys, a fern and scattered some poppy seeds. It wasn't too bad this year (first year after planting) and I noticed some Johnny JU's were there. So I moved more from my garden to encourage seeding there. I think next spring and summer it will really look nice. The owner, who occupies the other side, promised to fix the raming 30' feet next year. I don't really care now that the trees are gone. It looks terrible but it is his side not mine. I did my bit only to give an assist the the lady renting as she knew absolutely nothing about gardening and had planted one lone pansy there. She never watered though so I inherited that. I thought she could at least handle that. Then they moved. So now it is sort of an extension of mine. I weed, water, preen, fertilize. lol Just what I needed.

Sorry for long story. But the silliness that goes on with gardeners .....trying to encourage to garden.

If you want to gather seeds from exploding seed pods, lay a strip of parchment or fabric over the ground at the base of the plant (like you would use fabric around the base of a Xmas tree), then put one of those plastic cones that vets use on dogs around the plant so that the small end (where the pet's neck would be) is on the fabric. When the pods explode, the seeds are caught by the cone and they roll down onto the fabric! The larger the plant, the larger the cone needs to be. HTH.

I had a neighbour who would scold me for allowing the Johnny Jump Ups to just grow where ever they wanted to grow.
I like them as they just pop up here and there, and brighten every spot the seeds land.

Joanna - what a brilliant plant. I use organza bags for my poppies and even tried it on my Lemon Chiffon peony this year. Works great. Never thought about trying to 'catch' the smaller plants seeds. But you are right. Wind could carry them where I would prefer not, and NOT carry them where I WOULD prefer. lol Thanks for the idea.

Oberon46 said:Joanna - what a brilliant plant. I use organza bags for my poppies and even tried it on my Lemon Chiffon peony this year. Works great. Never thought about trying to 'catch' the smaller plants seeds. But you are right. Wind could carry them where I would prefer not, and NOT carry them where I WOULD prefer. lol Thanks for the idea.

Oh, Mary! I didn't even think of that! Winds, yes, of course! I was thinking about gathering the seeds to distribute among friends, at seed swaps, or for native plants, especially those that help pollinators, planting them in the wild. But I guess this would cut down on garden work and prevent having to remove good plants!

And I didn't even think of saving them to give to friends. Course I don't have any gardening friends here - well except for the botanical garden where I volunteer. Don't think they would want anymore JJU's though. lol

And I meant brilliant 'plan' not 'plant'

Oberon46 said:And I didn't even think of saving them to give to friends. Course I don't have any gardening friends here - well except for the botanical garden where I volunteer. Don't think they would want anymore JJU's though. lol

And I meant brilliant 'plan' not 'plant'

there's a great seed swap going on here as we speak! http://garden.org/apps/swap/vi...

I think the humble Johnny Jump Ups or Viola are about my all time favorite plant over the years. Every spring after the bitter cold and winter winds are about worn out and my spirits are as low as melting, ugly snow with spring to distant for comfort yet, a little cheeky face of a viola will pop up somewhere covered in ice water and slush with it's little face turned to the sun and I just marvel at such a seemingly delicate plant can work its way to the surface warmth. It always seems there is a life lesson for all of us in its sturdy little glory. I still have a lasagna pan of viola seedlings that I winter sowed a couple of years ago and forgot about in a back corner of the yard that bloomed all summer despite no attention what so ever. I found it late this fall at my old property but had to many other things to fit in my car that day for transporting home. I suspect they will still be there this spring along with some Sweet William and a few other odds and ends that thrive on neglect.

freezengirl said:I think the humble Johnny Jump Ups or Viola are about my all time favorite plant over the years. Every spring after the bitter cold and winter winds are about worn out and my spirits are as low as melting, ugly snow with spring to distant for comfort yet, a little cheeky face of a viola will pop up somewhere covered in ice water and slush with it's little face turned to the sun and I just marvel at such a seemingly delicate plant can work its way to the surface warmth. It always seems there is a life lesson for all of us in its sturdy little glory. I still have a lasagna pan of viola seedlings that I winter sowed a couple of years ago and forgot about in a back corner of the yard that bloomed all summer despite no attention what so ever. I found it late this fall at my old property but had to many other things to fit in my car that day for transporting home. I suspect they will still be there this spring along with some Sweet William and a few other odds and ends that thrive on neglect.

That's it. I'm getting violas in the spring!

Freezin' Does Sweet William return in Alaska? I have never had it do so in Anchorage? I was amazed however to see that some stuff will self-seed if dropped in the right places. Things that we normally think of as annuals. Lobelia for one. But in most places I spread preen to try to keep the dratted chickweed down so that also inhibits seeds I would love to let grow. That is why I don't broadcast my poppy seeds but sow in pots in the spring. Then transplant into the garden. They don't like to grow that way but it works fine.

Well, surprises of surprises. We got about 2" of snow yesterday and through to this morning. So I decided it's time to take my planters of pansies off my front stoop and you'd be surprised at what I found. Under the snow in several of the pots is new growth, some new flowers, and some buds. They're going to winter under a table on my deck as someone told me she placed her's under her deck and they came back the following spring. I'll let you all know what happens in the spring!

I am not sure about Sweet William reseeding in Alaska, I don't believe I tried it there. I don't know why it wouldn't though (think Foxglove) except of course for the chickweed. Between the chickweed, horsetail and pushki it was a constant battle. My husband said the property is completely overgrown again and he could barely see where the gardens were though I wouldn't bet on his powers of observation regarding gardens under the best of circumstances.

lol. Yup. Know what you mean.

Never thought about trying to seed for foxglove. I could could seed a small patch as an experiment, then before preening cover it with plastic. The botanical garden has some foxglove that I thought was coming back but Mike said no, it was self-seeding.

Did you say your old place on on the Kenai, or at least on the peninsula? Still own it?

Homer area and yes we do still own it.

A bit more pansy news. First, I want to reply to a few posts/questions here that I didn't see before. I'm in Massachusetts (north-central). The winters can be very cold, harsh and dry, and the summers get very hot and are often very humid.

The pansies I bought were available in the very early spring and are rather ubiquitous here during that time of year. The nursery person said that the pansies are the only flowering plant she would put outside while it was still so cold. I took her advice, potted them up and they did wonderfully. Beautiful flowers even though we were still having freezing temps and there was still snow on the ground!

I left them there on my front porch where they get full sun until the afternoon throughout the summer. That morning sun can be torturous during those summer months sometimes causing a substantial difference in temperature between the front and back "yards" of my home. As long as I watered them every morning to keep their roots cool, they did amazingly well. I also deadheaded them regularly but never cut them back. And I fed them regularly with Miracle Gro Bloom Booster flower food until mid fall.

After the first few frosts and the first heavy(ish) snow, I noticed that they were getting a bit leggy. But they still had flowers and a few blossoms. I took them inside last week and they were still showing new growth, but no new blossoms appeared. Today, I cut them back leaving as much of that new growth as possible (it looks like spring growth), watered them, and then placed them in a sheltered place on my back deck.

I should mention that the nursery person who sold them to me said that they're supposed to be annuals, but that she puts her's under her deck each winter and they come back in the spring.

I hope mine will come back (although they haven't yet gone anywhere). Is it the Miracle Gro that is making the difference? I don't know. But right now, they're all snuggled up to the base of my house, and the flowers I trimmed from them yesterday are in small glasses on my windowsill and giving me lots of pleasure.

I've read that using synthetic fertilizer will eventually kill the beneficial microbes that plants and ecosystems need to thrive so I won't be using any in my garden this coming year (just started vermicomposting so I won't need to....I hope....). But I don't mind using it in my potted plants that are on my cement porch as I feel that it won't do any harm, and will bring me and my neighbors a lot of pleasure.

I hope this might be helpful to someone! Wishing you all a wonderful week.

I spent a few days working at the old house and just before I left I remembered to check the johnny jump ups left behind. Still blooming! They are covered with soggy leaves and half the pan with about an inch of melted snow/rain. I think this is probably the end of the second year for this pan of seeds from winter sowing either left over or for what ever reason forgotten about. Winter sowing is my favorite way of planting perennials and self seeding annuals (like jju). I was thinking about self seeding plants in relation to gardening in Alaska. Columbine is an easy one to scatter around, which I have never been able to grow except for winter sown technique in my Minnesota gardens (much colder and hotter extremes then coastal AK) veronica, poppies and a few others can't think of off hand. In Alaska I scattered Bleeding Heart seeds all over the property. I had a few plants that I was sure would do well so purchased additional seeds to supplement them. The seeds are so tiny they are a pain to work with so I mixed them with some (black gold?) black sand and them broad cast them around in the likely suitable areas. I have no idea if they survived...wish I knew though. Johnny Jump ups, Forget Me Not, and Bleeding Hearts are the three plants that I have loved since childhood. I can close my eyes more then fifty years later and be back visiting these little beauties totally mesmerized by their charm while keeping a wary eye out for my crabby old aunt who would chase any curious child away from her garden. Although she has been dead for many years I often wonder how she could have always been so crabby all the time while having such sweetness in her own little yard.