Peculiar pansies need a dose of nitrogen in cooler months

Q: I planted three pots of pansies this past weekend and offered them a dose of root stimulator to help settle them in their new homes. They are looking great, especially with the cooler daytime temperatures, but I now wonder if they need fertilization during the winter months to keep them blooming? — M.C., Albuquerque

A: I adore pansies! Seeing pots of those cheery faces in the morning while having coffee on the patio really makes my day.

Keeping them healthy through the winter months will depend on what you choose to fertilize your pansies. Probably you know to offer most blooming/flowering plants fertilizer that offers the plant a higher middle number, the phosphorus, in its makeup. It’s the phosphorus most bloomers use most to keep on blooming.

However, pansies are most peculiar. (I love saying that.) I was taught that pansies will perform their best if offered a fertilizer during the late autumn/winter months that has a higher nitrogen level in its makeup. I believe that the nitrogen, being “hot,” is used by the plants as a sort of antifreeze. Peculiar, huh?

Depending on how you usually feed your pansies, you can find a water-soluble food that has higher nitrogen in the mix to dilute in a watering can and sprinkle the pots with it. Or, if you have any granular lawn food available, you could sprinkle that on the soil of the pots and water it in. No more than a couple of tablespoons sprinkled at a time.

Then too, you must be sure that if you choose to apply lawn food, it does not contain weed killer. You need straight lawn food with no extra trick products lurking in it. For the water-soluble fertilizer follow the package directions as to how often to apply, and for the lawn food type of fertilizer an application every six weeks should do fine.

So, help your peculiar pansies stay healthy by offering them a higher level of nitrogen to warm them from the inside out. Most peculiar for sure!

Q: I have several santolina (lavender-cotton) plants growing along one edge of my sidewalk. They are starting to look a bit scraggly now and want to know if I can prune them down now or what? — L.Y., Albuquerque

A: Everything I’ve read about the santolina is this — you can go ahead and give them a light pruning now to help tidy them up by removing the spent flowers.

Next spring you can take them down fairly hard and they’ll come right back with the growing season. I think it’s recommended to leave, let’s say two-thirds of the plant, as a buffer from the winter weather.

I’ve also learned that a happy santolina is one that is kept at a height of 1- to 1½-feet tall. Left to their own devices, they tend to get rangy and don’t stay as healthy as they could.

So for now, a trim to remove the spent bloom and tidy them up, then in the spring a crew cut to get them going.

Happy Diggin’ In!

Tracey Fitzgibbon is a certified nurseryman. Send garden-related questions to Digging In, Albuquerque Journal, 7777 Jefferson NE, Albuquerque, N.M. 87109, or to features@abqjournal.com.