Heartsease

By Gladys Kuhn, KCMGA

Several years ago we stayed at Jenny Wiley State Park overnight in January. The flowerbeds around the lodge were filled with pansies in full bloom, bright faces looking up through the snow. They won my heart that day. Since then I have pansies outside our front door all winter long. In a harsh winter, when there is no snow cover, I love them enough to blanket them myself.

The pansy is native to the cool parts of Europe. It belongs to the violet family, Violaceae.  The wild pansy is Viola tricolor and has been "crossed, recrossed, and backcrossed with the yellow pansy, V. lutea; the alpine violet, V. altaica; and the horned violet, V. cornuta to give us the garden pansy, V. x wittrockiana.

An old German legend says that the pansy was once so fragrant that people trampled all the grass coming into the fields to pick it. The flower prayed to be deprived of its scent so that the cattle would not starve.

And in A Midsummer Night's Dream, it was the juice of the wild pansy, V. tricolor, which Oberon squeezed into Titania's eyes to make her fall in love with Bottom.

The name of the pansy is thought to be a corruption of the French word, pensee, meaning thought or memory. The Victorians made a science of the meaning of flowers.  And in that traditional language, purple signifies memories, white signifies loving thoughts, and yellow signifies souvenirs. Hence the Victorians named the pansy Heartsease, since it was a flower given in happy times to ease the heartbreak of even temporary separation.

Growing conditions for the pansy recommended by Better Homes and Gardens Complete Guide to Gardening include sunny rays on rich soil; watering when dry, knowing the plant is susceptible to root rot; and feeding regularly. It is a cool season annual with varieties hardy in zones 2 to 11. For best appearance, the blooms need to be deadheaded and should the plant become leggy during the winter, a light trimming restores the appearance.

Pansies are edible and look beautiful in a salad or as garnish. According to Lori Allen, they can be candied by brushing whisked egg white onto the flower, then sprinkling superfine sugar onto the petals, shaking off the excess, and then drying on waxed paper for up to 8 hours. In this day and age of Salmonella in our eggs, I probably would not eat the uncooked egg white, but the candied flowers look like jewels and add a lot to a festive meal.

The herbal properties of the pansy include salicylates, which are anti-inflammatory and make the medicinal preparations useful in the treatment of arthritis. The saponins help make the pansy an expectorant and the rutins act as a diuretic. It is also mildly laxative and useful for treatment of skin rashes.

So the next time your heart is eased by the rainbow of faces in the middle of winter or the next time you want to ease the heart of a friend, remember the pansy, which says, "I am always thinking of you.”