YOUR GUIDE TO THE TWIN CITIES
Have you committed pansicide?
Posted on June 12th, 2009 – 9:09 AMBy Connie Nelson
In April, I put some pansies in my planter boxes and they looked great. By May, I was a little tired of them, but hey, they were still blooming. Now it’s June and it’s decision time. The pansies haven’t shown any signs of fading, but I want to plant my boxes for summer. Should the pansies stay or should they go?
On the one hand, the pansies are going to fade as soon as it gets hot. On the other, I don’t know if I can bring myself to toss all those sweet-looking, long-blooming plants in the compost bin.
I’m pretty hard-hearted when it comes to plants. If they get sick, they’re out. If they outgrow their territory, I divide them. If they spread too much, I yank them. But these poor little pansies haven’t misbehaved. They’ve just lasted too long.
What do you do with plants that have overstayed their welcome? Do you toss ‘em? Move ‘em? Put them in the corner and ignore them?
30 Responses to "Have you committed pansicide?"
[…] Greengirls – […]
I pulled mine out last weekend. They were already looking sad. Out with the old, in with the new.
I’m considering the same thing with some purple daisies I had put in my planter. They were GORGEOUS when I first bought them but I didn’t get them in the planter right away, and then didn’t water them enough. No more flowers…and while the plant looks healthy again, I don’t know if it will bloom again or not. It’s 1/4 of my planter with no blooms. Thinking of removing them but don’t know how long I should get ‘em before I give up!
I just can’t let my window box of pansies go…they are the little ones, yellow, white, gold, so sort of summery colors. And they’ve done their bit in a cold dry spring. But if they start looking sad, I will toss them. Sometimnes I think it’s wasteful to garden by dispensing with bedding plants at whim. But our growing season is short and the time to experiment and enjoy is NOW.
I agree with MNmom, the growing season is too short to not to have whimsical fun in the garden..
And it makes for a plentiful compost.. 
Harvest the flowers before tossing and eat them!
I have found that I can repot the pansies in old clay pots and stick them in a shady spot (we have some old, giant spruce trees with most of the lower branches gone). They looked great for most of the summer last year. Since I pass by that way often enough to keep pinching them back. And I made sure that our drip irrigation hit them too. Very low maintenance and great visual appeal. The ones that went to seed dropped seed on the ground so I even have a few volunteers this year. No pansiside. Instead, possible Pansy colonization.
You’re all heartless. Except Margaret.
GREAT IDEAS! I don’t know if I should eat my pansies or try to keep them growing thru the summer. I guess I’ve got enuf that I can do both!
Songgrl, now that you’re watering your flowers, they might come back nicely. Give them a little time. I might also start feeding them on a regular basis (unless you used a potting soil with fertilizer in it or added time-release fertilizer when you planted).
“You’re all heartless. Except Margaret.”
Put me in the heartless category. When my dad was in town a month ago, we pulled a bunch of ferns. They were encroaching from a woodsy area into the ‘planned’ garden area. Once they do that, they are weeds. He insisted on moving as many as possible to another woodsy area. Normally I would agree, but I already have far too many of the things. So I didn’t water the ones he transplanted (some seem to have survived anyway), and am regularly committing fernicide on those we missed the first time.
Hey, great post, really well written. You should write more about this. I’ll certainly be subscribing.
Fermicide! I’ve been guilty of that myself. Ferns seem to come up everywhere BUT where I’ve planted them. I’m also guilty of monardicide. I used to divide it, but now I just pull out any shoots that stray from the mother plant. I’m becoming ruthless.
I’m currently committing mumicide, astericide, and what I think is alternatheracide (i LOVE these words!)
But pansies? Those sweet little monkey faces?
I just set a dying houseplant outdoors - I like to give everything a fighting chance.
Last year I took a whole batch of houseplants (non of my favorites) outside. It proved to be a sort of purgatory for them. They never made it back inside. At the end of the summer, they were bug eaten, disease ridden and compost-pile bound.
Cut off the flowers and put in a vase. Then put the rest of the plants in your compost and replant your pots!
Aww, Deanna has the best idea yet.
Last year I tried to replant the Johnny Jump ups from the garden to underneath some trees (which, of course, didn’t work given the partial shade and little, if any rain) because I can’t force myself to commit “pansicide.” Aye, never fear, for the little scoundrels have returned to the garden by themselves!
Keep your pansies and like Margaret, repot them to a shadier spot! Mine lasted until Oct last year and were my favorites of my garden. They are happy to suffer in the cold of April/May for you, how can you be so cruel the throw them out if they are still blooming just because you are ‘tired’ of them??
I interplanted my pansy planter with pot-sized dahlia’s. When the pansies fade the dahlias will be full sized. That should happen soon now that we have warmer weather!
Lasted too long?! Just relax and enjoy plants that are thriving in your garden. If you can’t do that, why garden?
Advertise them on craigslist and have someone come over and did them out. Give them away for free. You would be surprised at how many people would participate.
Donate them! Put them in small pots and give them to people who could use a smile. A week on a desk could make someone’s summer.
How could pansies be fading this early? Whoever posted that must not water them. Mine go nearly all summer in a shady spot. Also, does anyone know why my Dahlia annual, bought in a pot at Bachmans and planted in May, is just sitting there looking scraggly and with rust/burn on the leaves? It’s been watered regularly.
Mellers has the best idea yet, IMHO. Repot them in small giveaway plastic pots and give them to folks at work, family, friends, neighbors, whoever. A lovely gesture and a new home and a new life for these lovely creatures!
Love the giveaway idea. I would be thrilled if someone gave me a small pot of pansies! As others have stated, summer here is SO brief - share the joy of things green and blooming for as long as possible.
Repot the pansies and put them somewhere cool and shady for the summer. Then you can do your planters up in summer style. Songgrl, your “purple daisies” sound like osteosperum. They need pretty much full sun or they won’t bloom. I tried some in pots in part shade two years in a row, and they stopped blooming.
I agree with Margaret - my pansies are still looking great on my front steps. I can’t imagine tossing them for anything better. Besides, it takes a while for pots to fill in and look grand and the forecast for summer is “cool”………gotta love those pansies!
I put mine on the front deck as early as possible and when it’s time to replace them with geraniums, I move both big pots to the back yard. I keep them trimmed back and they are beautiful all summer. I don’t have the heart to pitch them unless they get really raggedy.
My pansies always last all summer the key, as mentioned prior, is to put them in a shady spot and give them water.
My pansies that I planted are replanted and some elderly lady who has a shaded patio is enjoying the flowers again. Their little heads are saying thank you thank you and smiling back at her every morning.
Greengirls Connie Nelson, Robyn Dochterman and Jaime Chismar are dishin' the dirt from the backyard garden and beyond. Whether you're a greenthumb or greenhorn, they're eager to learn from your misshaps, mistakes -- and most importantly, your sweet successes -- all growing season long.
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