“The Home of the Pansy” :: BRISTOL, PA. 
Pansy Culture 
0 N this page we wish to give information that 
may help florists to grow Pansies at their 
best. Our specialty is Pansies and we feel 
that a good description on how to grow them would 
be very appropriate. We realize that most florists 
are able to grow them with success yet it is quite 
frequent for us to receive letters from florists say¬ 
ing that their Pansies were not as good as the pre¬ 
vious year and asking us for a reason. Sometimes 
they had in mind that our strain was not as good 
as in the year previous. We wish to say that if 
the following rules are followed carefully there is 
no reason why you should have a failure in Pan¬ 
sies in any particular year. 
Pansies can be grown on any well drained soil. 
If your soil is heavy and gets soggy in wet weather, 
the beds should be raised at least 4 inches above 
the level. Add a little sand; it will help to lighten 
the soil. This need be done only in extremely 
heavy soil. Be sure and always have plenty of hu¬ 
mus in your soil, it will help a lot toward drainage. 
Always bear in mind, in order to have large and 
beautiful flowers, the soil should be very rich. Fer¬ 
tilize your beds a month or two before planting 
when possible; use well rotted stable manure liber¬ 
ally. We find it best to use fresh stable manure, 
humus and soil and allow it to rot down. Commer¬ 
cial fertilizer can be used with success if applied 
intelligently, using for humus, peat moss, well 
rotted manure, dead leaves or like material. 
When preparing for planting, pulverize the soil 
to a depth of 6 inches or more, firm the soil. Place 
plants no less than 4 inches square, up to 9 inches 
is better if you have the space. Put roots in ground 
as deep as they were in nursery. If ground is 
sticky wait until it dries a little. In hot, dry 
weather, water thoroughly after planting, shading 
the bed during the heat of the day until plants are 
rooted. In the South, little or no covering will be 
necessary to carry plants over Winter. In the 
colder states if plants are wintered in the open, 
would advise mulching with some light material 
such as hay, straw, evergreen boughs, etc. Do not 
cover so heavily that the plants cannot be seen, 
otherwise you will smother them. They should not 
be covered until the ground is frozen hard. At our 
nursery we find about December 15th to be the 
proper time to mulch for the Winter. 
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