Pansies

Pansies, as you've suspected, like things cool. When the heat of summer comes, they get scraggly and blooming slows or stops. If you keep up with watering, deadhead the flowers after they fade, and shear the plants back hard after most flowering has stopped, you might keep them alive until fall, when they sometimes bloom again. Otherwise, you can replace them with summer-bloomers. Also, when selecting pansies, look for more heat-tolerant varieties, such as the Panola series.

Plant pansy seeds about 1/8-inch deep. They need the soil to be about 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit, and they need darkness to germinate.

Mine do that, too. I think it's from getting wet & then the sun bleaches them.

This pansy variety is "Pansy Colossus" and the white color with the purple is called "Pansy Blotch White Colossus."

The edible pansy is called "Viola x wittrockiana" and is an annual. Growing edible flowers is essentially the same as growing flowers for ornamental purposes in terms of sunlight, soil, water requirements, and so forth. Do not use chemicals since you'll be eating it. Pansies add color in cooler months and good companion plants are ornamental kale and cabbage--and snapdragons for a taller backdrop. We have tips on growing edible flowers in the Garden-Fresh Cookbook. Here is a blog about growing edible flowers: http://www.almanac.com/blog/cooking-blog/garden-trend-edible-flowers

See the hardiness zone map page here: http://www.almanac.com/content/plant-hardiness-zones

Pansies are quite winter hardy. They can even freeze solid and then defrost to slowly bloom again. They protect themselves in cold weather by temporarily wilting. That said, they do not like it when there are extremes from hot to cold. When it warms up, give them a shot of fertilizer and hope they will bounce back.

You can safely trim dead or yellowed leaves.

Pansies aren't easy to grow from seed; start indoors in potting soil in a plastic flat about 12 weeks prior to last heavy frost, then harden off and plant outside after frost. Here are frost dates: http://www.almanac.com/content/frost-chart-united-states
You may be interested in our list of best flowers to start indoors:
http://www.almanac.com/content/flowers-annuals-and-perennials-start-indoors

Normally, you'd water pansies about 1 inch per week. However, in the winter time in pots, just water when the soil is dry below the surface. Put your finger in the dirt up to an inch below the surface--the first knuckle. When it's dry, water.

Now is a good time to plant pansies and zinnias in Florida. Pansies like the cooler weather and will bloom for several months. They are a little hard to start from seed and require complete darkness to germinate.

August is too hot for pansies. They don't like the heat of summer. In the South, try planting in September and they should be able to overwinter if it doesn't get too cold--and you'll have blooms through spring!

Depending on how near to Johannesburg you are, you are most likely zone 8. If you are located more north of Johannesburg, then you are zone 9.

Thank you for your interest in the Old Farmer's Almanac and our Web site.

Yes, you can save some seeds to replant next season as long as it's a pollinated (heirloom) variety of pansies.