Pansy growing

You can but you wont know what colour the flowers are going to be until they come out as they will hybridise. Unless the are F1 hybrids in which case they wont set seed.

If you want to collect Pansy seed, you need to watch for when the seed pod is pointed upwards, the plant does this just as the seed is ripe, if you leave them like this they explode and the seed is lost, so you need to check every day.

As a young boy in London (UK) I would collect seeds from Pansies that were grown in containers in the street. I always used to find 1,000s of seeds but rarely got the chance to see many grow!

I grow Pansies on my balcony, though I no longer have the patience to grow them for myself.

Just do as Poaannua says & you will get more seed than you know what to do with!

Hi Donnah, I'd advise you not to collect and sow seed taken from pansies at all. When you buy a packet of pansy or viola seed, the plants that grow from them are what are called 'F1 hybrid'. If you then collect seeds from the plants and try to grow a second generation of plants from them, you will get lots of virtually free F2 hybrid ones. The F2 type will not be the same as the F1 type. The flowers will have a different colouring and patterning, usually poorer. They will still be just as healthy, but you forfeit the quality/prettiness of their faces just a bit. This is possibly a sort of genetic reversion or suchlike. I myself have grown both. These days I find it is far better just to buy the pansy plants straight from the garden centre. Three quid for a tray of six.
I hope this helps, Best wishes, JONATHAN H.

but the F2s keep me in suspense. I have had some pretty little things over the years. I have some in pots from the F1 last year.