Pansies and violas are just about ideal for fall/winter planting in milder climates. In my area, they will bloom continually until late spring (if deadhaded religiously), only pausing for a brief period if it gets very cold. Because of my location, mine are in more shade than sun so they can get a bit leggy and I cut them back if they do.

In my area, watering in winter is generally not a requirement (our rainy season) but I do fertilize about once a month to keep the plants healthy and full of buds. And they are cheap......so I'd just go ahead and indulge. They should do fine for you but even if they don't, you're only out a few bucks :-)

It is quite hot in Atlanta now...upper 80's to low 90's.

So right now...they're baking.

The flowers are a bit shriveled (even though they are watered and the soil is nice and moist). But the heat is probably giving them a hard time.

I realized that every time I plant my containers - not just with pansies, but also summer annuals - I always hope for a mass of heavenly blooms like you see in pictures - but it never works out like that.

I get SOME bloom, here and there, the foliage is fine and the deck sure does look better than if I left it empty;

BUT I can never quite get the crazy bloom I see in pictures.

Now I am afraid these pansies too will only bloom MEH because they were planted too early, took too much sun and heat right after planting... yet they might not get enough sun once the weather cools down.

And they say pansies were supposed to be easy and uncomplicated. ...

Yes, I'm sure they are not appreciating that much heat :-) Pansies and violas are cool season plants, which is why they tend to be sold only in fall and early spring. 80's-90's are midsummer temps here :-) Never made it above 60F yesterday and not expected to do so for the next week so almost ideal temps for growing pansies.

btw, my location is very far north compared to the rest of the US, so even in summer our sun is not nearly as intense as it is further south. But even in winter in partial shade the pansies bloom well here. If you can keep them going through the heat, they should be fine.

gardengal48,

Thank you for the encouragement. I hope they hold out a few more days and cooler temps will finally hit here too - at least based on the current weather forecast.

The foliage is fine, only the flowers are shriveled a bit.

I already cut off many of the flowers the plants came with from the nursery, so I am looking forward to these little things starting their blooming business under my conditions. I am just afraid they will not get enough sun throughout the cold season - in containers facing east.

A few of them came with huge blooms.

Unfortunately, in my experience, virtually all plants I ever got from the nursery always bloomed with much smaller flowers in my conditions compared to what they originally had at the nursery.

I wonder what they feed them there...horses? :-)