A perfect show

You can still have colour in your garden in winter with these pretty pansies

- with DIARMUID GAVIN

There's a coolness in the air that indicates autumn is creeping in.

Soon there will be trays of bedding plants available for planting up in autumn, into winter pots and containers.

One of the most common and reliable of these is the winter pansy. It's frost-hardy, and with a little care, the cheerful flowers have a remarkably long blooming season ahead.

The pansy's botanical name is Viola x wittrockiana and it's been grown here for over two centuries, cultivated as a hybrid of multiple viola species including our native Viola tricolor. The common name pansy is thought to derive from the French word for thought, “pensée”.