Annual or biennial
How to grow pansies and violas
Viola × wittrockiana / Viola cornuta
Pansies and violas are cool-season plants. For winter and spring colour sow in June or July, keeping the seed below 20 °C, and plant out in September or October while the soil is still warm; for summer, sow in February or March and plant in April or May. Give them sun or part shade and moist, free-draining soil. Deadhead every week and plant in fresh soil or compost each year to avoid root disease.
- Hardiness
- Fully hardy
- Position
- Sun to part shade
- Soil
- Fertile, moist, free-draining
- Ideal pH
- 6.0 to 7.0
- Water
- Moderate
- Feeding
- Light feeder
Sowing and planting pansies and violas
WhenSow Jun to Jul for winter colour or Feb to Mar for summer; flowers Oct to May (winter) or May to Sep
Starting off
Sow Jun to Jul for winter flowering or Feb to Mar for summer, 3 mm deep in a tray kept cool at 15 to 18 °C in shade, as seed fails above 20 °C; germination takes 10 to 21 days. Prick out into modules and plant out Sep to Oct or Apr to May. Named violas root from soft tip cuttings in Aug.
Spacing and planting
Plant 15 to 20 cm apart in beds or 10 to 15 cm in a window box; plant at plug depth. Fine in a 20 cm pot or basket, six to eight per 35 cm basket.
Varieties worth growing
- Pansy Matrix Series
- Large-flowered winter and spring pansy with short, strong stalks and good branching; recovers quickly after frost.
- Pansy Cool Wave Series
- Trailing pansy that spreads 60 cm; the one for hanging baskets and the edges of large pots.
- Viola Sorbet Series
- F1 bedding viola with masses of small flowers that shrug off rain and cold better than any pansy; huge colour range.
- Viola 'Etain'
- Perennial viola, pale lemon edged lavender and well scented; flowers April to September if cut back in midsummer.
- Viola 'Molly Sanderson'
- Perennial viola with matt black flowers and a small yellow eye; compact, for pots and path edges.
Pansies and violas month by month
Timings are for central England. Allow two weeks later in the north and on cold, heavy soil.
- January
Deadhead in mild spells. Do not feed. Flowering pauses in hard frost.
- February
Sow under cover at 15 to 18 °C for summer flowers.
- March
Sow. Growth restarts: begin liquid feed and pick over winter plants.
- April
Peak flowering of winter plantings. Plant out spring-sown plants. Deadhead weekly.
- May
Plant summer violas. Feed every 2 to 3 weeks. Winter pansies start to tire.
- June
Clear leggy winter bedding, or trim by half. Sow in a cool, shaded spot for winter.
- July
Sow for winter; keep trays below 20 °C. Cut back perennial violas after the first flush.
- August
Prick out into modules. Take soft tip cuttings of named violas.
- September
Plant out for winter while the soil is warm. Start autumn feeding.
- October
Finish planting. Feed in mild weather until the end of the month.
- November
Deadhead. Remove yellow leaves. No feed.
- December
Deadhead in mild spells. Keep pots off the ground so they drain.
Feeding pansies and violas
Light feeders. A weak liquid feed every 2 to 3 weeks while they are growing and flowering in mild weather, autumn and spring, and nothing in the cold of midwinter when roots cannot use it.
Light, a weak high-K feed keeps winter and spring bedding flowering.
Feeding plan
Planting
No feed
None in fresh multipurpose compost, which carries about six weeks of feed. In beds, fork in a little garden compost.
Late September and October, every 2 to 3 weeks in mild weather
3 ml per litre of water, the bottom of the label range: 15 ml in a 5 litre can. About half a litre for a 20 cm pot, 1 litre for a 35 cm basket.
November to February
No feed
None. Feeding cold, wet compost does nothing for the plant and encourages rots.
March to May, every 2 to 3 weeks
3 ml per litre of water as above, from the first new growth until the plants are cleared. Summer plantings: the same from June to August.
After cutting back perennial violas in July
1 g per litre of water as a single drench to help regrowth.
Signs to watch
Older leaves yellow in a pot in Mar
Nitrogen washed out over winter
A balanced liquid feed as growth restarts
Few flowers and lush leaves in summer
Excess nitrogen
High-potash feed
Purple-tinted leaves in Jan
Cold-locked phosphorus, not a shortage
Ignore; it greens in Mar
Pests, diseases and problems
Plants yellow, stunted and wilting, then collapse; roots brown and rotted
Pansy sickness, a group of soil-borne root rots that build up where pansies and violas are grown year after year
Remove plants with the soil round their roots and bin them. Do not replant pansies or violas in that bed for several years; in pots, use fresh compost and a scrubbed pot every time.
Pale or purplish blotches on leaves with grey fuzz underneath, mostly in cool, wet weather from autumn to spring
Pansy downy mildew
Bin affected plants promptly, space the rest for air flow and water at the base in the morning. Avoid planting in the same spot next season.
Dark, greasy-looking or pale-centred spots on leaves through winter
Pansy leaf spot fungi, spread by rain splash
Pick off spotted leaves, clear dead foliage, and avoid overcrowding in containers. Plants usually grow out of it in spring.
Leaves curled and distorted with green or pinkish insects inside
Aphids, including violet aphid, active even in mild winters
Squash by hand or rinse off; cut back badly curled shoots and they regrow clean.
Petals eaten or shredded overnight
Slugs and snails; sparrows and pigeons also peck flowers in spring
Torch patrols and wool pellets for slugs. Raise pots off the ground. Bird damage is brief and plants reflower.
White powder on leaves of summer violas
Powdery mildew in hot, dry weather
Trim back by half, water well and move pots to part shade.
Pruning
Pruning and care
Deadhead weekly by pinching off the spent flower and its stalk, as seed pods stop flowering. Trim leggy plants back by half in Jun, or after the winter flush, for fresh growth. No staking; fully hardy, but in a frozen pot flowers pause until the thaw. Violas are short-lived perennials: cut back after flowering.
Good to knowDeadhead regularly; a cool-season flower for autumn-to-spring colour.
Growing pansies and violas in pots
Most pansies and violas are grown in containers, and they suit it. Plant 10 to 15 cm apart in a window box, or six to eight to a 35 cm basket, in new peat-free multipurpose compost; do not re-use compost that grew pansies last year. Winter pots need drainage more than water: stand them on feet, check weekly and water only when the compost is dry 2 cm down. A spot against a sunny house wall gives far more winter flower than an exposed one. Violas outlast pansies in baskets because their smaller flowers do not collapse in rain.
Pansies and violas: common questions
What is the difference between pansies and violas?
Pansies have a few large flowers, usually 5 to 10 cm across and often with a dark face, while violas have many smaller flowers of 2 to 4 cm. Violas are tougher: they flower more freely through cold and rain and recover faster. Both are grown the same way, and some violas are true perennials.
Do pansies come back every year?
Not usefully. Bedding pansies are short-lived perennials treated as annuals or biennials; they get leggy and stop flowering in summer heat and are best replaced. Perennial violas such as 'Etain' do return for several years if cut back after flowering.
Why have my pansies stopped flowering?
The commonest causes are seed pods left on the plant, deep cold, or summer heat. Pick off every faded flower with its stalk each week. In winter they pause in frost and resume when it turns mild; in June, trim leggy plants back by half and water, or replace them.
Sources
Growing information on this page was checked against these references in November 2026. Feeding rates are Dr Forest label rates.
- Pansy downy mildewRHS
- How to grow pansiesBBC Gardeners' World Magazine