Trailing Cool Wave Pansies

Host: Gary Bachman, Ornamental Horticulture Specialist

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Like many other home gardeners I’m in full swing of planting the cool season annual color today on Southern Gardening.

The last couple of years I’ve been kicking the pansy planting up a notch and using Cool Wave pansies more and more. I absolutely love their trailing growth habit. Cool Wave pansies are much more vigorous than the standard pansy varieties. The plants are well branched and can really fill a hanging basket with good color from fall all the way to next spring. Cool Wave pansies are really well-suited for growing in containers too. If the Wave sounds a little familiar, Cool Wave pansies were developed by the same folks that brought the popular Wave petunias to many of our gardens. I decided to go with the solid purple flowers this year, but there is quite the selection available. One particular attribute that impresses me with Cool Wave trailing pansies is their cold tolerance. These plants are well adapted to all of our Mississippi hardiness zones. During really cold weather these plants will seem like they have frozen solid. The most visible effect will be some purpling of the foliage. Though any flowers open during these temperatures will be goners, with warming temperatures the flowering will return very quickly. Cool Wave trailing pansies, like their traditional upright cousins, need to be grown in the full sun, at least six hours each day, for the best flowering and growth.

Until next time, I’m horticulturist Gary Bachman enjoying our Southern Gardening.