Saturday 20 October 2007

The Mighty Pansy

I'd like to propose a change to the connotative meaning of the word "pansy." If the little pansies I seeded this Spring are any indication, they are pretty tough little plants! This is a picture I took of a small pot of pansies today, October 20th. They are sitting outside on the staircase going down from the front porch, about 10 feet from the house in any direction. As you can see, they are going strong, with buds still forming! Let me say again, it's October 20th, in the northern half of Alberta, Canada. These little guys have already been through several frosts of -5 C (23 F), and at least one of -10 C (14F). I'll be saving the seed from the most hardy of the bunch, if they ever stop flowering to form seeds, and I'm definitely planting these again next year.

So the next time I get called a pansy, I'm taking it as a compliment!

2 comments:

Simply Authentic said...

i agree i absolutely love pansies and hate the funny looks i get based on the other meaning of that word....sigh...but what hardy little plants and so beautiful too!

Theresa said...

They sure are beautiful! And they are the most cheerful flowers around, no doubt about it. I've had the pleasure of flowering plants outside in my yard now for six months (May - Oct) thanks to these hardy little guys.

That's a lovely picture of a mixed box of pansies on your blog by the way :)