POINTS ABOUT PANSIES

Evening Star, Issue 22893, 26 February 1938, Page 21

POINTS ABOUT PANSIES

The best of pansies lose quality and. dwindle away more quickly than violas are wont to do. To understand why pansies deteriorate so quickly it is necessary to know the vital difference between a pansy and a viola (says the gardening contributor of tbe Auckland ‘ Herald’)• Violas send up masses of sucker shoots from below 'ground, each having its own stem roots. A pansy, on the other hand, makes a central stem with a root system at its base. A few branching stems radiato from the central figure, starting in this case from above ground. A pansy thus relies upon the same root system to support the stems, foliage, and flowers all through the season. While the main growths are allowed to go their own way they will continue to elongate, but their older portions become hollow, and the younger portions consequently weaker. If old flowers are allowed to wither on the plants or form seeds, the later blooms will show still further deterioration. The plants will then have little energy left to throw shoots at all.

All this may be altered if as soon as waning energy is noticed the main growths are cut hack to a joint just above ground level. Mix a good compost of sifted loam, sand and leaf soil, and lay this down to a depth of an inch or two all round the plants. Work the compost well in between the short stumps of with the fingers. Should the weather prove dry a good watering will encourage new growth. In a short time the renewed vigour of the plants will be se.en in fresh young growth, which may be taken off cuttings when three dr four joints have been made. As a result of the topdressing each cutting will be found to have a set of roots already formed. These will make splendid plants for next season’s flowers, and, being vegetatively propagated, will be true to the type' of the parent, which cannot always be said of those plants raised from seed.

It is unwise to nse old growths that have become hollow-stemmed as cuttings; these rarely root, and even if they do the quality of the plants will not he equal to those raised from fresh young growth. Those readers who desire some special pansies would be well advised to make preparations for the raising of fresh, stock as outlined in these notes. The carrying of old plants through the winter is sometimes a risky proceeding, and the variety is lost.