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A rainbow of color without the weeds to mess things up.
Photo: Brax - VPC
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Pansies in the Mesilla Valley: Get Ready for 3 Seasons of Color.
T
he little pansy can put up with Ol Man Winter and keep on ticking. Imagine, seven months of great color. That's right. Autumn, winter and spring of next year. And the colors are rich yellows, blues, reds, purples, indigos and white. And isn't the wintertime the time when we want to see something beautiful and colorful?
We thought so. So get ready. Planning goes a long way.
Pick a good spot. What do I look for in choosing a good spot? A perfect place for pansies is a bed or large pot that has partial sun. Ideally, pansies would like to have early morning sun to take the chill off but they don't like to be bombarded with heavy doses of sun all day long. So, if you can pick a spot next to your porch or patio that is on the east side of your home that would be perfect. Also, if you have any pine or juniper trees that will give some shade to the pansies you can use them to guide you as to where to plant even on the west side of your home or driveway. Ideally, morning sun and shade after 11 O'clock or noon.
Now the timing is important but not critical. If you have that partially shady spot you can pick up pansies for planting and leave them near the area you are going to plant for a day or two or you can plant them immediately. But, remember, getting them off to a good start is important so you may have to shade them with a chair or table if the sun in that area is still very harse or it doesn't get shade until the afternoon. Get them in the ground in the middle of October in the Upper Valley and later around the end of October if on the Westside heights or East Mesa.
Add plenty of good potting soil to you pot with sand at the bottom so that the water drains well. The pansies will need to be watered a couple of times a week until they get well established. Later, as temperatures get cooler and then cold... brrrrrrrrrrr... a once a week watering is just the ticket.
Then without any worry about weeds you will have the perfect bouquet of colors from October until almost May in the heights and almost into June in the valley.
Enjoy.
Prepared by UVB staff.
(Photos: Brax - Valley Publishing Company)
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