Hi everyone. Ok, got a question for all you gardeners out there. I recently purchased and planted pansies. This is the first time planting these flowers and so far, not so good. They were pretty much eaten up the first night. I've come to realize that snails are the culprit and I've purchased something to take care of that. Now, the lady at the nursery told me that I should pinch off the flowers. She said that it is too early for the flowers to be blooming and that by pinching them off, I will have nice, full flowers in mid October. Ok, so how do you pinch off the flowers? She indicated, unless I misunderstood, to pinch them off including the stem all the way down to the base of the plant. Is that correct? I'm just not sure that I understood her correctly. Please tell me how you pinch off the flowers so that the plant will grow fuller flowers at the right time. I'd hate to kill the poor little things. Thanks soooooo much for any help you can give.
Margie

I pinch mine off right above the first leaf on the flower stem. The flowers tend to grow on a stem that has no leaves for the couple inches. I pinch off the flower and that long stem piece. However, I pretty much let my pansies bloom whenever they feel like it. I usually only pinch off the blooms that are over. They should bloom contiuously from now until the frost gets them if you live in area that gets frost.

Thanks so much taxnerd. That's how I'll do mine tomorrow. You've been a great help!!