Here is some more to think about planting this spring.

     WOW thanks for looking at the website.  The most people looked  was yesterday so I was told" Yes Teresa"  to write about gardening. Here we go another day of talking about gardening.  Next week the first of the plants come in, so I will be sharing with you what I do, so that will be fun.  Now it is developing a plan on how to plant in what size container, how many to plant as amount and how many in each container.  Designing containers if I need to.  So that hat I wear in the greenhouse business this week is the grower manager. 
     Yesterday I talked about Cool Wave pansies.  We will have them in 3 different colors.  Also will be planting ones called Freefall pansy in 2 different colors purple wing, which was developed to produce long, graceful stems with many flowers. 
      Cool Wave pansies are fast growing with blooms that measure up to 2" across.  They take full sun to part shade and shown good resistance to diseases and pests. The Freefall pansies reach 6 to 8 inches high and measure of 12-15" across.  They're less prone to stretching when the temperatures start to rise.  Bred by Flora nova, a breeder based in the United Kingdom. Here are some tips for Planting pansies in baskets.  Don't pack them in.  a 10" or 12" container only needs three  Cool Wave pansy plants.  If you crowd them, they'll have to compete for nutrients and space to spread their roots.  Trailing pansies have been bred to spread out, so let them do their thing. Watch the water.  Make sure excess water drains out so the plant roots don't rot.  Also hanging baskets are exposed more than in the ground, so they dry out faster.  You might have to water in the summer twice a day.  Something new for pansies....bring on the sun.  Most trailing pansies can take it and the Cool Wave need at least 6 hours of sun each day to produce lots of blooms.  We also will have the regular pansies and violas in many colors to put into those spring containers for instant color.  Pansy have a happy face, so it is easy to think of happy thoughts when I see them.  My mother always had pansies, and she would say the more you pick them the more they bloom.  In fact, that is so true because we are using up the blooms, so more will bloom to be that Happy plant.  Till next time, this is Becky Litterer from Becky's Greenhouse, Dougherty




Freefall Pansy purple and white top picture, bottom picture is pansy Cool Wave Purple