Majestic Giants II Mix Hybrid Pansy Seeds

Majestic Giants is "the" name in pansies, and has been ever since it burst onto the gardening scene in 1966, walking off with All-America Selection awards and making itself so popular that even non-gardeners asked for it by name at nurseries. It was simply a different, and vastly better, pansy, with large, upturned blooms that kept going even after frost. What could be better? Only one thing: Majestic Giants II, the improved version of this classic.

In this formula mix (by the way, a formula mix is one that gives you equal amounts of each color), you get giant 4-inch blooms on plants just 8 inches high and about 6 inches wide. In other words, the plant is nearly all bloom. And the flowers sit atop the bright green foliage, so you see nothing but brilliant color when you look at the annual bed or container. Very well-branched, these plants manage to offer continuous blooms in spring, fall, and in many climates, winter.

Majestic Giants II is renowned for its earliness, beginning to bloom up to 10 days sooner from seed than the original Majestic Giants series. It is more floriferous, thanks to better branching on the plants. More branches mean more buds, more buds mean more flowers, yet the overall size of the plant is actually more compact than the original. (How did they do that?)

But most of all, Majestic Giants II is renowned for its ability to overwinter and then keep blooming in spring. Many pansies last through the winter in warm areas, but by spring—after they have flowered faithfully for months—they are pretty much done. Not Majestic Giants II. You'll get big, bold, nonstop flowers in April even from plants you set out in the fall garden the previous year.

And the flowers are simply gorgeous. Many have whiskers and blotches—the 'faces' so beloved of pansies—and all boast petals saturated with deep, long-lasting color. Their huge 4-inch size shows to great effect, because these flowers sit on top of the foliage and face straight up, instead of nodding or twisting sideways, as older Pansy varieties do.

Pansies are America's favorite hardy bedding annual for color in the cool weather of spring and fall (even winter south of zone 5). Very easy to grow, they can be planted out in fall to winter over in the South, or in earliest spring and fall in the North. Best in sun to light shade.