Planting Pansy Seeds

Q: I am getting ready to plant some pansy seeds and want to know the basics.

A: Pansies need a constant temperature of 70 degrees in order to germinate and grow strongly. It’s possible you could get the low temperature indoors but the plants also require high light conditions to go from seedling to finished plant. Large nurseries buy thousands of small seedling “plugs” from specialized nurseries which concentrate on taking plants from seed to an inch tall. Pansy nurseries are usually located where daytime temperatures are not scorching and they have extensive cooling machinery. Bottom line: producing pansies from seed for fall planting in our high heat is nigh impossible.