All sorts of shades and combinations of yellow, orange, red, purple and blue, as well as white and monochromatic black can be found among the many varieties of pansy, Viola X wittrockiana. Pansy flowers are mostly about two inches wide, with a pair of overlapping upper petals, a pair of side petals and a single lower petal. Even though they stand only about half a foot high, flowers hover slightly above the foliage.

Here where winters are so mild, pansies get planted in autumn to bloom through winter, and then get replaced with warm season annuals in spring. They can survive through summer, but do not perform so well while weather is warm. Deadheading (removal of deteriorating flowers) promotes continual bloom. Related violas typically produce more profuse but smaller flowers, which are actually physiologically different.