Meet the plants: pansy!
Happiness exists on earth, and it is won through prudent exercise of reason, knowledge of the harmony of the universe, and constant practice of generosity.
-Jose Marti
Pansy: Viola tricolor/Viola cornuta
Pansies are one of the most popular cold weather flowers, and some of the oldest flowers in cultivated history. They show up in gardens when other plants just can’t grow! Playful little flowers, pansies have many nicknames including; Johnny jump up, heart's ease, heart's delight, and little flame. Pansies are fragrant and edible blooms and are common. Many pansies are bicolored, making them strikingly beautiful plants despite their miniature stature.
Pansies are surprisingly hardy and withstand frost, snow, and drought. The pansy is linked forever to its ancestor the viola. And like violas and violets, the flowers are as tasty as they are dainty. Common names, such as pansy, viola, and violet may be used interchangeably. The name "pansy" is derived from the French word pensée, or “small thought." In floriography, the language of flowers, the pansy means, “think of me often and pleasantly” and is regarded as a symbol of remembrance.
One of our beloved Solitary Gardeners, Jesse, includes pansies in almost all his winter garden designs because the flower can with stand the coldest fronts.
“What shall we plant next? Well… I will say I love the pansies year round—momma used to grow squash & peppers in these pots next to our door at these apartments where we once lived—I’ve been thinking about greens a lot—I love honeysuckle & kudzu vines, they remind me of home. But listen, you can help me with my food growing choices—my thing is wanting people to eat out of my garden…”
Pansies remind us of many things- diversity is a strength, what appears fragile may not be, and small thoughts can lead to collective big dreams.
In what ways under a capitalist framework have you been taught to believe you need to be BIG to be noticed?
How have collections of small thoughts informed your most exciting ideas?
How can we be more like pansies— unassuming, collective, seemingly delicate- as an antidote to so many of the hardened identities of rugged individualism we have been fed?