Winter Pansies

Winter Pansies

The only thing the upper deck has going for it right now are pansies.  For some reason I always thought of primroses and pansies as being the first flowers to plant in late winter.  Last fall I noticed pansies at the grocery store and would come home to see my empty hanging baskets and bare deck.  I wasn't sure they would live through winter in a shallow coconut husk lined basket, but I really wanted the color.


Before Thanksgiving I decided to go to the nursery and look around.  I ended up buying several pansies in various shades.  I planted them in the hanging baskets on the railing, but worried that they were too exposed. I found an old bag of florist moss and covered the top of the basket soil. 


Since then they've done just fine. We haven't had a lot of snow this year, but have had below freezing temperatures. People commented on the flowers at Thanksgiving and again at Christmas. At that point the railings had garlands and lights as well. 


Today I noticed them with the afternoon sunlight behind them.  I thought about taking a picture, but missed my chance when clouds rolled in.  Once again the simplest of flowers are making the biggest impact with me.