A plant with the boring correct name Violet Vitrocca is affectionately called “pansies”. An old legend that has survived to this day is associated with his name. Once upon a time, a beautiful and loyal girl, Anyuta, accompanied her fiancé to the defense of her dear little friend. The brave guy left, and disappeared. And the faithful Annie could not stand the grief and turned into a beautiful flower. And now, as before, there are pansies along the road and look into the distance, waiting for the return of a good guy ... That's such a sad story.
According to legend, the plant of pansies has the ability to fascinate love. It is enough to sprinkle the juice of a flower on the eyelids of a sleeping person and wait until he wakes up - and that's all, he will fall in love forever. During separation, the Poles and the French give the flower, and in England, the indecisive young man can simply send the girl a viola flower and write his name on a piece of paper - and that’s all, a declaration of love is ready.
That's such an interesting flower - pansies. Growing seedlings allows you to get abundant flowering in the first year, although by its nature the viola is a two-year-old. Usually, if you plant pansy seeds in the garden, they grow in small bushes, which are transplanted to a permanent place in the fall, and in the spring, after wintering, the plants begin to bloom profusely.
In order for pansies to bloom in early spring, seedlings must be grown in February or early March. It is better to sow pansy seeds in a greenhouse or in a room in flat boxes with loose moist and necessarily fertile soil. Crops need to be slightly covered with soil and on top there is still a layer of snow. At room temperature and with sufficient humidity, seedlings usually appear in one to two weeks. Do not forget that at an air temperature above 25 degrees and in conditions of insufficient humidity, seedlings may not appear at all.
As soon as the first sprouts appear, the air temperature in the room with viols needs to be slightly reduced, and trays with seedlings need to be exposed to bright light - this is especially important. A glazed loggia or a spacious veranda is suitable for these purposes, only at night the trays need to be moved to the house to avoid freezing. In April, seedlings are dived, and a pansy plant can be planted in a permanent place already in May, so that pretty flowers will delight us with their gentle smiles.
It is said that with this method of cultivating viola plants, although they bloom longer, the flowers are smaller and the color is not as abundant as in a two-year-old culture. This statement is controversial, and only personal experience can confirm or refute it.
When cultivating flowers of pansies, growing seedlings is not the only way to obtain flowering plants. Many gardeners in household plots practice ordinary self-sowing, which, as a rule, is quite plentiful from year to year. But at the same time, flowers are not as large as if you grow seedlings.
Although, if we compare the self-sowing of pansy flowers, targeted seedling cultivation has similar features. To obtain larger flowers, plants obtained by self-sowing, which is similar to the seedling method, simply need to be planted more freely, so that the distance between them is from 15 to 30 centimeters, depending on the variety and the specific size of the bushes. Then individual plants will not interfere with each other and will develop well. Varietal signs of viols during self-sowing are fully preserved.
Of course, in order to obtain beautiful large flowers, viols during the summer need to provide proper care, which consists of watering, feeding, morning spraying, removing fading flowers and pruning overgrown shoots.
Pansies are used for flower decoration as a border plant, they are planted in boxes on balconies and in street vases and on alpine slides - it is simply impossible to list all the options for their use. Viol's popularity is explained by their extreme unpretentiousness - they can be transplanted even during flowering! And in the open ground viola can be planted even immediately after the snow has melted, which will extend the flowering of the garden ...