A Better Landscape Pansy: Colossus

Pansy ‘Colossus™ Yellow’ in one of our houses

Landscapers: If your mission is to paint the landscape with a carpet of color, Colossus™ pansies get the job done. Every pansy has its niche and for the Colossus™, it’s color coverage. Here are some reasons why:

First of all, Colossus™ pansies are known for their huge flowers, with blooms measuring 4 inches across. If you place one next to a standard pansy flower you’ll notice that the four bottom petals that make up the face are much wider. As a result we see more flower and less plant.

Lysimachia ‘Goldilocks’ with petunias and grasses in an orange pot

Creeping Jenny is a versatile component crop that’s great to keep on hand. Like a backup singer in a band, it’s attractive on its own and harmonizes beautifully with more dramatic plants that take the lead in containers and hanging baskets. For color, texture, and cold-hardiness we turn to it again and again.

‘Goldilocks’ is a prolific spreader, spilling over the sides of planters and stone walls like a golden chartreuse waterfall. It acts like a highlighter when paired with any of our burgundy kales or cabbages—the bright foliage also makes purple blooms pop. For Halloween displays we find that it adds just the right amount of quirkiness to a gothic urn or hollowed-out pumpkin.

It’s a good idea to keep three or four basic component crops in your design toolbox—fashionable, reliable standards that are not fussy about soil and get along well with other plants. ‘Goldilocks’ should definitely be one of them. 

We grow this variety in the 4.5-inch pot.

We like how ‘Goldilocks’ spills from the pottery

Ornamental kale ‘Nagoya Red’

Now’s the time to pick up some ‘Nagoya Red’: it has plenty of cold tolerance for the crisp autumn nights to come and the color is just getting started. These plants last a long time—we’ve seen them in beds and planters around town in November and even December, still as red and showy as ever.

Ornamental kale is great for adding texture to a design—we like the ruffled leaves on this variety. It’s great in a winter combo or in a planter on its own; we also use it to create geometric patterns with ‘Nagoya White’ or ‘Songbird White’.

• ‘Nagoya Red’ is available in the 4.5 and 6-inch pot.
• ‘Nagoya White’ comes in the 4.5 and 8-inch sizes.
• We grow ‘Songbird White’ in the 6-inch pot.