Winter Pansies

It's a touch of both!

It is true that Viola x wittrockiana (the garden Pansy) though a short lived perennial is winter green and hardy. Some strains have been bred specifically for holding bud or even starting to flower from autumn onwards and peaking in spring as the temperatures rise. However, many strains of pansy, so long as you get them to the stage where they are showing flower bud by now will do the same, especially if slightly sheltered. If your plants are still small, expect them to flower early summer next year :-)

Question for you Fractal, on pansies - I remember when the winter flowering pansies were first introduced, and they were called Great Universals. A worker at a garden centre the other day told me that's all any of the growers grow now, because they're just as good in the summer as in the winter, so they grow them for summer as well. Is that true? I'm a bit of a cynic when it comes to what garden centre staff tell me ...

I knew that Universal was not seen as much now and that the smaller flowered "viola types" were becoming more popular for winter use but hadn't realised how much of a change was occurring. Have a read of this interesting article Bamboo.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/howtogrow/3346277/Winter-pansies-and-violas-How-to-grow.html

I don't know why the call them winter and summer' my pansy's seem to be in flower all year, even in a cold winter yes I can rember them,

Thanks all. I am hopeful mine will be okay, as they are quite big now, and although I can't see any actual buds, whatever is coming through the centre looks more bud like than the last time I checked!

Thanks for that Fractal - read it. In fact, then, the opposite is true - not only do the growers NOT grow Great Universals for summer, they shortly, and possibly even now, won't be growing them for winter, or at all. I must tell the garden centre that - if they're going to sound so definite and knowledgeable, they could at least get their facts right...

Sorry this isnt an answer, so am I to assume that the tiny baby violas my summer violas produced will now last the winter and that I needn't have bought the new ones I just received in the post........?

In my experience, if you've had them flowering all summer, they're on their last gasp - if they were the small violas, they might seed themselves, so keep an eye out for baby seedlings next spring. So no, you did the right thing in buying more...