Pretty Pansies Brighten-Up Front Yard

Today's post joins Metamorphosis Monday on Susan's blog, Between Naps on the Porch. Be sure to go there to check out other home projects. Just click http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/.

Large planters on either side of some steps in the front yard, and one near the main steps, have been looking pretty forlorn for several months, piled with snow and pelted with icy rain.

While reading the newspaper one morning, there was an ad to a plant nursery that sold "frost resistant" pansies. Man alive, my eyes picked up that tidbit like a magnet.

Off we went to the plant nursery to check out the pansies. There were hundreds of them in all colors and designs, like this:

Do you remember picking johnny jump-ups in the woods, as a child?  Well, did you know that pansies are descendants of johnny jump-ups?  They are, according to the book Garden Flower Folklore by Laura Martin. This is a terrific book, crammed with hundreds of flower facts, legends, and, well, folklore.

Often associated with love, heart-shaped pansy leaves were used to cure a broken heart, according to Martin. Also, legend has it that pansies used to be all white until Cupid's arrow pierced them and purple and yellow appeared!

While looking for pansies for the front yard pots, it was almost impossible to make selections. I loved them all! Should we get solid yellow or the pansies with the little "faces?"  We opted for the latter.

Once home, the flat of pansies is ready for planting:

Into the pots they go:                                                   

The dismal looking winter weary pots are now filled with brave and beautiful  pansies. The pots already are starting to look so much better!

One sweet flower fell off during the transplanting so we called it "pansy in the palm." 

               

Now comes the waiting game to see if they really are frost resistant!

DO YOU LIKE PANSIES?