I have a long time love affair with pansies. I see them growing in a pot or in the yard, and it
just makes my heart sing. The next spring after I moved to southern California, I naturally bought
some pansies. Nice cheery yellow ones with large faces. And they promptly died. Fluke. Must be a
fluke. The next year, I bought a pot of pansies from a different nursery, and they were dead within
days. The next year, same thing. Frustration. Pansies are one of the easiest things to grow. What's
wrong? I came to the conclusion that it must be the water. The water here in my neighborhood is
extremely hard. We had it tested when we bought our house. On a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being very hard
water, ours tested a 35. Off all charts. The water here does nasty things to a lot of plants.
Avocado trees can't take it. Their poor leaves crust over, and the plant eventually dies, a slow,
painful death. Could it be the same with the pansies, just quicker? I eventually asked a nurseryman
about it. Nope. He says pansies like hard water. Hrmph. Well, I'd had too many years of bad luck with
them, I figured I just couldn't grow them here. Then this spring I was in a nursery, and saw these
delightful little flowers once again. Oh! And the new colors that are out! They absolutely took my
breath away. I had to try them again. I had to! Lo and behold, it's been several weeks now, and not
only have my new pansies not shrivveled up and died, but they're growing and blooming their little
heads off. Delightful! So, here they are. The label calls these Coconut Swirl. I'm not sure why.
I love them anyway. Aren't they charming?
Cornelia. What flowers are these?
Gazetta. The pansy this.
Cor. Oh, that's for lovers' thoughts.
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