Pansy

Pansy comes from the French word pensee, which means thought. The flower looks like a little human face, deep in thought.  The French believed pansies could make your lover think of you.

Once upon a time, pansies came in only three colors: purple, white and yellow. By 1833, there were 400 named pansy varieties.  Gardeners were happy. Pansies are quaint flowers but never go out of style-- old ladies and kids love them.  Amanda had some growing in planter boxes and Nova was so excited showing them to us.

Pansy plants are usually sold blooming, so their begging faces are hard to resist outside of grocery stores and such.

According to German and Scottish folktales, pansies were called the "stepmother" flower. The lower petal is the mother, the large petals on each side are her fancy daughters and the small upper petals are the poor stepdaughters.  The pansy has also been called the Herb Trinity, because of the arrangement of the three petals.

Pansies belong to the same family as violets, but unlike violets they have no scent.  In another German story, the pansy once had a wonderful, sweet smell and people would travel for miles to see it. They trampled down the grasses and ruined the pastures.  Then the pansy prayed for help and God took away the scent but gave beauty in return.

Another legend goes that once pansies were white, but Cupid's arrow pierced them and they became yellow and purple and gained magic power for love potions.  Pansy leaves supposedly cure a broken heart.

The real charm of pansies is they grow just about anywhere.  In our mild climate "winter blooming" pansies chug along outside all winter trying to bloom, but they really take off in the spring.

I bought some on-sale pansies at West Seattle Nursery back in February and they looked ratty but now they're flowing out of the front door planters. Some TOC and Miracle Grow did the trick. I've always been partial to the darker flower colors and one viola (pansy) in the bunch is nearly black.