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Planting combinations for pansies and violas
The name ‘pansy’ derives from the French word pensée meaning ‘thought’. It was so named because the flower resembles a human face.
They are sufficiently dramatic to stand on their own in a flowerbed or container, but some of the best winter displays occur when they are grown with something else. Grow them with dwarf early tulips or small-flowered daffodils. Tuck them around small border conifers and shrubs, as well as winter grasses, dead-nettles (lamiums), elephants’ ears (bergenias) and lungworts (pulmonarias). They also make good companions for the shorter bulbs (crocus, snowdrops, chionodoxa and scilla).
10 of the best to grow from seed
For the best choice, grow your own pansies and violas from seed next year.
Try any of the following:
Pansy ‘Waterfall Mixed’, cascading ● plants with a sweet scent; mainly yellows, creams and blues
Pansy Most Scented Mix, hardy and ● fragrant plants; all colours except green
Pansy Frizzle Sizzle Fire Mixed, ruffled ● edges and dark faces at the centre of each flower, in shades of blackcurrant and gold
Pansy Matrix ‘Daffodil Mixed’, large ● blooms in a sunny array of whites, yellows and oranges – ignore the ‘daffodil’ name, which will confuse as these are definitely not daffodils!
Pansy ‘Coolwave’, gently cascading ● pansies flowering from November to March; whites, blues, purples and yellows
Viola Sorbet XP, a uniform mix of prolific ● and free-flowering violas with a neat habit perfectly suited to hanging baskets, windowboxes and containers
Viola Sorbet ‘Honeybee’, as above, but ● with blooms in shades of gold, yellow, orange and brown
Viola ‘Rebecca’, cream flowers splashed ● and mottled in blue. One of the most scented of the perennial violas; flowers from March through to the following October
Viola ‘Sweeties’, just 4in (10cm) high, ● with a mass of bi-coloured flowers in yellow, white and purple
Viola ‘Rose Shades’, magenta and rose ● shades; flowers have a sweet fragrance