Photography by Mimi Giboin for Gardenista.
Pansies are a flower that growers never have been able to resist trying to “improve.” Over the past century, hybridizers in France, Germany, and Switzerland have all tinkered with old-fashioned Viola x wittrockiana.
Soon after the Sakata Seed Corporation announced Miyazaki’s breakthrough, the giant pansies won an All-America Selections award from a trade group of US seed growers in 1966.
And like the petunia, the impatiens, and all the other bedding plants that came before and after, the giant pansy suffered a sad fate: It became common.
Giant pansies dwarf their diminutive cousins.
A packet of Mammoth Viva La Violet Pansy seeds is $3.25 from Stoke Seeds.
A packet of Mammoth Queen Yellow Bee Pansy seeds is $3.25 at Stokes Seeds.
A packet of 250 Pansy Majestic Giants Deep Blue Blotch is $10.70 from Harris Seeds.
A flat of 16 four-inch pots of Viola x wittrockiana Majestic Giant ‘White’ with purplish-blue blotches is $25.98 from Plants Express.
A packet of Giant Exhibition Mix pansy seeds is $2.50 from Stokes Seeds.