High Performance Flowers

We’ve gotten a handful of questions regarding the proper care of violas and pansies through the winter months. I’ve put together a few tips that I expect will be helpful.

It is the MO of pansies and violas to survive extreme cold temperatures. They may look a bit sickly at times but it is only because the plant is conserving its energy. Once the sun is out and it’s show time they will immediately perk back up. That being said, here are a couple things you can do to speed up their recovery:

1. Take one tablespoon of Epsom Salt per gallon of HOT water (so it will dissolve) and treat your beds, containers or window boxes with that. Of course make sure the water isn't hot that you treat the plants with. Let this solution work for a couple of days before you move to step 2. Without getting too technical, the Epsom salt will allow the plant to take in the fertilizer and it will add two elements to the plant (magnesium and sulfur) that will strengthen it while we're waiting on our days to get warmer and longer

2. Use a 20-10-20 fertilizer (liquid), 2 or 3 teaspoons per gallon. You don't have to worry about using hot water necessarily; Liquid fertilizers will dissolve in cool water as well.

3. Deadheading and occasional trimming encourages pansies and violas to put out new growth because it frees up nutrients to produce active new blooms. It also makes the plants more aesthetically pleasing while we’re waiting on the longer days and warmer temperatures.

We genuinely care about our customers and how our plants perform, so please feel free to ask us any questions about your HPF plants and we will get back to you as soon as possible.