Pansies.

How to Grow, Reimagine, and Create Beauty with Pansies and Violas.

by Brenna Estrada.

“This book is a heartfelt plea. Written on behalf of the pansy, and pursued in hope and optimism, it has a single purpose: to elevate the pansy to a reimagined role of elegance and secure its place in at least a few more hearts and gardens for some years to come.”  – Brenna Estrada.

I first wrote about Brenna’s wonderful work with Pansies on 7th July 2024:

“Liliana and I sat in front of the wood fire this afternoon, the fog settling in early and listened to this wonderful podcast episode.

Growing Pansies for Cut Flower Production with Brenna Estrada @threebrothersblooms on @theflowerpodcast with Scott Shepherd.

Brenna shares generously and it has changed our whole perspective of pansies in the loveliest of ways. (I didn’t think they could get any lovelier).”

Since listening to that podcast episode, at every opportunity Liliana and I have been happily bringing home punnets of pansy seedlings from the garden nursery, growing them on, and as well as a bedding flower, using them as a cut flower. Aren’t pansies such sweet little poppets and so darling in flower arrangements? Getting to know the different varieties that are available has been wonderful. Loving pansies, dotting them amongst the raised vegetable beds, and always having a pot full at my door during the colder months or a tiny little vase filled with them, I confess I’d never thought of them as a cut flower option for bouquets or arrangements, but thanks to Brenna, not anymore.

So, as you can imagine, Lil and I have gone down a pansy rabbit hole. The day the book Pansies arrived in the mail, Lil and I sat on the couch reading it out loud to each other, flipping through the pansy filled pages… this is such a beautiful gardening book.

We are both dipping in and out of Pansies; having a collection of favourite gardening books is one of life’s pleasures. Lil is reading it at night, a peaceful escape after some of the history subjects she is studying at Uni. At the moment, I’m going through Chapter 2. ‘Growing Pansies and Violas’, especially the ‘Starting from Seed’ section. It hadn’t crossed my mind to grow pansies from seed; it always seemed like a fiddly step too far, but I was wrong – Brenna’s instructions make it look very doable. Think about it, pansies and violas self seed so easily. Motivation has certainly helped – seeing Brenna’s beautiful Instagram page, plus Chapter 3. ‘Exceptional Pansies and Violas in Cultivation Today’ is filled with stunning pansy varieties. Well, you know what I’m like – of course I ordered pansy seed and am trying not to get too carried away. Happy to report, I’ve sown Viola Nature Antique Shades from my favourite seed supplier Veggie and Flower Garden Seeds (they have fourteen Viola seed varieties).

Some notes:

I’ve probably bought Violas (Heartsease) once since shifting to Fairy Wren Cottage fifteen years ago and starting a garden from scratch. Always letting Violas self seed and ramble, they somehow seem sacred to me, a bit like Forget Me Nots.

Liliana (Lil) is 22 now. We have been gardening together since she was a baby. Flower gardening is a much loved shared past time.

Photos are of Daisy when she was a puppy, and the violas and pansies I have grown and photographed.

During the colder months, each Sunday we make a cake for Sunday afternoon tea. This cake, made by Michael and decorated by me, was inspired by page 220 in Pansies. I had big plans for decorating with lots of pansies and violas from the garden, only to find that the newly shifted in wild rabbits had eaten all but the two you see on the cake. The cake recipe is linked below and the homemade jam is Sugar Plum made from the Sugar Plum tree in Honeybee the duck’s garden.

Do you love pansies and violas too?

Love from the garden,

Jude x

Some links for you:

Brenna’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/threebrothersblooms/

Brenna’s Website: https://threebrothersblooms.com/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAafnJ9Bf2szq94RY3Px79CA6S2vij3uyvNGxbOHfMVT4R6Ec4w7HbSJbODJ9lg_aem_vhmAE5eOoinetgYDRgotMA

Cake recipe: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/vegan-sponge

Veggie and Flower Garden seeds has fourteen different Viola seed varieties: https://veggiegardenseeds.com.au/collections/viola-flower-seeds