The Difference Between Pansies and Violas
- Violas – Viola tricolor. These little beauties were imported from Europe in the 18th century. Viola flowers are smaller...
- Pansies – Viola wittrockiana. Probably the most recognizable cool weather flower there is, they are the result of...
- They’re Both Winners. Whichever plant you choose, Pansies and Violas will provide months of...
What is the difference between a pansy and a viola?
Pansies were actually derived from violas, so technically all pansies are violas but not all violas are pansies. Violas are often called Johnny jump-ups in the US, as they tend to self-seed and can spread throughout your garden on their own. While the blooms of violas are smaller than those of pansies, violas do have more blooms per plant.
How did pansies get their name?
It looks very likely that pansies were the result of hybridizing between two or more wild violas, with Viola wittrockiana, now synonymous with pansies, Viola tricolor and Viola lutea being the most likely varieties involved. The painstaking efforts put by the breeders of that era paid off and the result was the pansy.
Can you plant pansies and violas in the same container?
If you decide to plant them in a container or planter with other flowers, position them near the edge to create a bit of overflow. Because pansies do have much larger, more noticeable blooms than violas, they can create a bigger pop of color in your garden. They’re a bit taller—6 to 12 inches—than violas.
What is the difference between panolas and pansies?
Panolas have flowers that are between the two sizes and tend to have the larger leaf-like pansies. Pansies, violas, and panolas all have different series. Essentially, they’re bred into groups for certain traits like unusual color combinations, greater cold tolerance, or larger flower size.
What is the difference between Viola and pansies?
Pansies look and act a lot like violas but they have a much larger flower, and larger leaves as well. Another difference between the two fall favorites is that pansies usually only have a few flowers at a time whereas violas have a smaller flower but more blooms.
Can you plant pansies and violas together?
There is no wrong color palette when it comes to planting Pansies and Violas, in my book anyway. Of course, some colors compliment each other better than others, but they all look amazing and you can definitely mix several types together.
Do pansies and violas come back every year?
The short, quick answer is, yes. Because they have little freeze tolerance, most will die in sustained winters. In areas with moderate temperatures, they may come again in spring, especially if they were mulched to protect the roots.
Are pansies or violas more hardy?
Violas have smaller “faces” (blooms) and pansies have larger faces. Violas also tend to be slightly more cold hardy (they will last through winter).
How do you keep violas blooming?
Violas bloom easily, and for most of the spring and summer, save for the hottest weeks. To keep yours blooming: deadhead flowers as they are spent; lightly fertilize once a month during the growing season; cut back your plants in late summer to prepare for autumn blooms.
How do you keep pansies blooming all summer?
Give them partial shade, fertilize lightly, and deadhead throughout the hot months to maximize blooms. If you live in colder climates, with the warmest temperatures of the year at and below 70 degrees, summer will be the best time to grow pansies and get them to bloom.
Should you deadhead pansies?
For pansies, be sure to deadhead (remove spent blooms) regularly to encourage lots of flower production and to minimize disease spread during periods of wet weather.
What to do with pansies when they have finished flowering?
Most of the bedding violas and pansies are perennials or biennials but they are usually just kept for one season and then discarded, but after flowering they can be cut back to a couple of centimetres and they will re-grow.
Do violas spread?
Violas make great border plants in your garden and are often recommended for ground cover, according to Learning With Experts. They will spread and make flowering clumps, particularly under shrubs such as roses, with which they combine very well. You can also grow them alongside your vegetables since violas are edible.
How long will violas flower for?
Violas tend to have small flowers and tolerate heat, with a long flowering season from early summer to early autumn.
Do violas need full sun?
Ideally, pansies and violas like lots of sun in the spring and early summer, but they tend to struggle with too much summer heat. A great setting would be one that gets full sun before the trees are fully leafed out and dappled shade during the summer.
Will violas survive frost?
Pansies and Violas are hardy plants and will survive a frost—and even a hard freeze—for a period of time. Depending on how hard the frost was, flowers that were blooming may wither, but the plants will stay alive.
What flowers pair well with pansies?
Pansies pair well with a host of early-blooming bulbs, such as daffodils, tulips, grape hyacinths, hyacinths, and snowdrops. They come in sizes ranging from petite Johnny-jump-ups to bold 'Majestic Giant' cultivars. For the best show, plant masses of nine to 12 plants for a carpet of color.
What do you do with pansies and violas?
Deadheading pansies and deadheading violas works the same way. You can clip off the faded blooms with a small pair of scissors, or you can pinch off the blooms. Be sure that you deadhead the plants at the base of the bloom, above a leaf cluster, to encourage the plants to continue to bloom.
What plants go well with violas?
Companions: Plant violas with low-growing grasses like blue fescue and some Carex varieties, fairy primroses, Iceland poppies, ferns, helichrysum, artemisia, heuchera, alyssum. In warm climates, they're a good over-planting for spring-blooming bulbs like daffodils and tulips.
What can I plant next to pansies?
In general, pansies can be paired with many other beautiful early blooming plants like tulips, daffodils, primroses, snapdragon, and many more. Apart from these, pansies also do well with ornamental veggies like ornamental kale and other herbs like rosemary and cilantro.
How to tell the difference between a viola and a pansy?
If you really want to tell the difference, take a look at the petals. Violas usually have three down-turned petals and two facing upwards. Pansies typically have one down-turned petal and four upwards-facing. Viola flowers are smaller but appear in greater number.
What is a purple pansy?
Perhaps the most well-known viola is the purple, yellow, and lavender Johnny Jump-up ( Viola tricolor ), also known as heartsease , or wild pansy (to make things even more confusing!). It’s widely believed that modern pansies have developed and evolved from Johnny Jump-ups originating in Europe and eventually spreading throughout North America.
How to protect pansies from cold weather?
When the cold blast is over, use a rake to gently remove the pine straw aside. You can also use cold-weather fabric to protect pansies and violets from sustained cold weather.
How tall do pansies grow?
Pansies grow taller to about 6–12 inches (15.2–30.5 centimeters) tall.
How cold can a pansy plant get?
While pansies and violets do fine in cooler temperatures for short periods, keep an eye out when the temperature is expected to drop for several days below 20 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 6 degrees Celsius). It helps to lay pine straw several inches thick over the entire plant to maintain heat and provide protection from wind and cold. When the cold blast is over, use a rake to gently remove the pine straw aside.
What are violas good for?
Violas are good for…. Choose violas if you want: Full, lush, ground coverage in your garden. Many small flowers. A plant that lies low and creates a slight trail in containers. A pretty addition to your rock garden or woodland plant landscape. A tough flower (slightly hardier than the pansy) that lasts all winter.
What are some poisonous plants that look like violets?
Beware of poisonous lookalikes! Wild violets have some poisonous look-alikes such as lesser celandine ( Ficaria verna) which have very different flowers, but very similar-looking leaves. Please be careful when foraging wild flowers. Only harvest flowers that you can identify with certainty.
How tall are pansies compared to violets?
They also have more compact growth than violets – pansies are 6 to 12 inches tall as opposed to violas’ 3-8 inches and have larger leaves.
What is the meaning of the word "pansies"?
That’s when the so-called “ pansies ” (its origin is the word penséem, in Middle French, it stands for thought) entered the lighted stage and became the stuff of legends. Or did they become an important part of the popular consciousness even earlier? What’s for sure is that pansies/violas were immortalized by Shakespeare as the “ love-in-idleness ” plant.
How to Plant and Grow the Perfect Viola for Your Garden?
The answer is – start from seeds. Violas could be grown in the garden – these cute versatile flowers are more than adept when it comes to self-seeding, so just plant them and let them be.
What is the name of the hybrid of violas?
It looks very likely that pansies were the result of hybridizing between two or more wild violas, with Viola wittrockiana, now synonymous with pansies, Viola tricolor and Viola lutea being the most likely varieties involved. The painstaking efforts put by the breeders of that era paid off and the result was the pansy.
How tall do violas grow?
It may be a small plant – most of the popular viola varieties don’t have a towering presence with their modest 3-6 inch height, but don’t let that mislead you.
What happens when people emphasize classifications rather than plants?
That’s what happens when people emphasize classifications rather than plants. Everything gets all complicated and confusing.
Where do violas live?
Violas are hardy little creatures, so don’t worry that much about them during the winter – many viola species find it relatively comfortable to live and thrive in the southern parts of Canada. Respect.
What are the differences between a pansy and a viola?
Flowers of pansies are larger, more rounded in shape, and they come in a greater variety of colors, including shades of orange, red, pink, blue, violet, yellow and white. Violas produce many more blooms per plant most commonly in shades of blue, yellow, violet and white. The flowers of both species have blooms that can resemble a face, although pansies tend to have a greater contrast between the primary flower color and the darker blotches in the center.
Where do violas grow?
Violas are a wildflower native to Europe, and they're more commonly known as Johnny jump-ups in the United States. This species self-seeds better than pansies, allowing the plants to appear in areas throughout the landscape without much attention from the gardener. Pansies are a result from a cross between the wild varieties of violas and tend not to spread as readily.
How tall are violas?
While pansies may reach 6 to 12 inches tall, violas are typically between 3 and 8 inches in height with a spread of 9 to 12 inches. Pansies have a mounded shape in contrast to the spreading habit of violas. Flowers appear on violas from midspring through midfall and on pansies from early fall through early winter and mid- to late spring. The flowering season can be prolonged on both species by dead-heading.
Is a pansy a perennial or annual?
Both species perform best in moist, well-drained soil rich in organic matter and full sun. Violas can thrive in part shade as well. Though classified as a perennial, pansies are commonly grown as annuals. Violas are better able to overwinter, making them a more reliable biennial or perennial addition to the garden.
Do pansies have a face?
The flowers of both species have blooms that can resemble a face, although pansies tend to have a greater contrast between the primary flower color and the darker blotches in the center.
Why are pansies bred into groups?
Essentially, they’re bred into groups for certain traits like unusual color combinations, greater cold tolerance , or larger flower size. For example, Colossus pansies have a significantly larger flower than Matrix, but there are usually fewer flowers, so the Matrix are planted more commonly. Pansy Matrix.
How tall should a pansy plant be in the winter?
Despite their differences, all have a mounding habit and tend to spread a bit, but they should stay 4 to 6 inches tall through the cooler weather. All of these winter flowers can handle full shade to full sun, but prefer part sun. They don’t like to dry out completely but are also pretty forgiving if that happens; they prefer to stay moist. Whichever plants you choose, Pansies, Violas and Panolas will provide months of color in cooler temperatures and take center stage in a seasonal color display, colorfully border a landscaped planting bed, or liven up fall and winter container arrangements.
What is the name of the hybrid plant that has two flowers?
To further complicate things and confuse gardeners, in between these two plants is a hybrid called Panolas. Panolas have flowers that are between the two sizes and tend to have the larger leaf-like pansies.
What is the difference between a pansy and a violet?
Violet vs. Pansy Appearance. Pansies have a more compact growth than violets, and pansy flowers are usually larger, about 2 to 3 inches in diameter, with distinct markings or blotches that look like a face. The flower petals differ as well. Pansies have four petals that point upward and one that points downward;
What are pansies used for?
Pansies often are used to provide mass color for borders and edgings and as cover for spring-flowering bulbs. Violets are used most often for rock gardens and as woodland plants. Deer enjoy eating pansies and may cause damage to your flower garden.
How many petals does a pansy have?
Pansies have four petals that point upward and one that points downward; violets have three petals that point upward and two that point downward. Violet flowers are usually a white and blue-violet to yellow color. Get the Best Mortgage Rate for You | SmartAsset.com. Loading.
How long do pansies bloom?
Their flowers have a long bloom time, usually from spring through frost in cold regions, and can bloom all through winter in warm regions such as California. Although pansies and violets share many similarities, they also have some differences.
What are violets used for?
Pansies often are used to provide mass color for borders and edgings and as cover for spring-flowering bulbs. Violets are used most often for rock gardens and as woodland plants.
What are violet leaves?
Violet leaves can be cooked or added to a salad. They are prized for their high vitamin C content and were once used by the Cherokee as a remedy for headaches and colds, according to North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension. The flowers of pansies are also edible.
Is a pansy edible?
Both pansies and violets are edible. Violet leaves can be cooked or added to a salad. They are prized for their high vitamin C content and were once used by the Cherokee as a remedy for headaches and colds, according to North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension. The flowers of pansies are also edible. They may be used as cake decoration or candied.
How to tell the difference between a viola and a pansy?
But the way to tell the difference is that pansies have four petals pointing upwards, and only one pointing down, while violas have three petals pointing up and two pointing down.
What flowers have yellow lower petals?
The HTA, which recommends all aspects of the horticultural industry, recommends Viola 'Aspasia', a scented flower with creamy white upper petals and yellow lower petals; Viola 'Jackanapes', with dark red upper petals and yellow lower petals and the delicate Viola 'Moonlight', with pale violet upper petals and light yellow lower petals.
Violas arrive with cooler weather
Availability of the Sorbet and other violas in the Victoria area is hit or miss. It is kind of like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get at any particular nursery. Earthworks traditionally sticks with the Johnny-jump-up. Others don’t, but carry a variety of Sorbets.
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The Gardeners’ Dirt is written by members of the Victoria County Master Gardener Association, an educational outreach of Texas A&M AgriLife Extension – Victoria County. Mail your questions in care of the Advocate, P.O. Box 1518, Victoria, TX 77901; or [email protected], or comment on this column at VictoriaAdvocate.com.
What is a pansy?
Pansy is just a common name given to the larger flowered hybrids. As far as colors go, I've seen plenty of new hybrid Violas in just as many colors, some of them more complex and interesting.
Do violas pop up in spring?
I love my little violas. They pop up everwhere all around my yard every spring. The color combinations are beautiful and they don't ask for anything.