How To Propagate Pansies For An Endless Supply Of Beautiful Flowers

Pansies are one of the easiest plants to grow for beginner gardeners and are widely enjoyed across the United States for their vibrant colors and fall-to-winter blooms. If you're looking for a less expensive way to fill your space with gorgeous flowers, you can divide one large pansy from your local nursery to create several plants instead of buying multiple. Rather than taking cuttings or seeds from your plant like other methods, propagating by division allows you to separate one pansy plant into two or three. Now, you can add gorgeous flowers to your plant pots, window boxes, or small spots in your garden from just one parent plant. 

While you won't be able to use this method to save plants from year to year — as pansies typically won't last through the summer — you'll get more bang for your buck and be able to fill in small empty spaces in your landscape by dividing the plants. This will also prevent your pansies from growing too large or having tangled roots. After dividing your perennials in the fall, you can add pops of color by mixing in pansies wherever you like.

For those that would like to transform one pansy plant into a larger supply of flowers, you'll just need to buy one big, potted pansy, which should be easy to find at nurseries in the fall. Approximately six weeks before the first frost of the season, you can divide your pansies. Remove the plants, making sure not to harm the roots, and begin separating the pansies into two or three clumps. Depending on the size of the parent plant and the root balls, you might be able to divide it into even more plants. Each section should have some roots, as well as a bit of new growth, to help ensure its success.

Before planting pansies that have been divided, make sure each section looks healthy before you place its seasonal destination. "If you are purchasing an established plant from your local nursery in the fall, it should be hardened off and ready to plant directly in the ground or your planter," explains Master Gardener, Tiffany Selvey, House Digest's Garden Editor. Make sure to give your newly divided pansies a good drink once they are replanted, as well as some slow-release fertilizer.