Winter flowers in Japan: pansies

I love pansy flowers. They make a lovely addition to any garden. And I really love that many parks in Japan grow them as they are one of the few flowers you can see throughout winter. They make an ideal winter flower display. Moreover, they can bloom from October right through to May!I have been seeing pansies around the place since Autumn, but this display is in bloom since December. The photo was taken in January 2025.

Millions of pansies are produced in Japan annually. The last figure I have handy is that there 123 million pansies produced in 2018. Pansies were derived from viola, so while all pansies are violas, not all violas are pansies! Overall pansies are said to mean "think of me" or "memories" in English. In Japan, different colors of pansy flowers have different meanings. For example, purple pansies mean thoughtfulness, while yellow pansy means modesty. Pansy is the flower of February 2nd, April 10th, May 25th and December 27th.

Have you seen any pansy flowers yet this year? Have you ever grown any? They make a lovely addition to a flower pot or flower bed, particularly in winter when other flowers are harder to grow.