Planting out in autumn?

Hi everyone, I started some giant pansies & alyssum saxatile in July & the instructions said to plant out in autumn for flowering the following spring but, winters where I live can be quite harsh so I'm not sure if this is possible. Would I be better leave them in the greenhouse until after the last chance of frost? The pansies especially look very large & healthy, I'm wondering if they were put in containers would it be possible they'd flower in winter? Last year I filled some pots with winter pansies but perhaps they were a particular, hardy variety? Any advice welcome.

 

Don't know about the plants you mention, but I always plant Sweet William and Wallflowers this time of year to flower in Spring. They even survived last winter's low temperatures, daytime frosts and snow.

 

I'm planting my baskets up during the coming days, and these will contain pansies. I have found that over the years, pansies are a very hardy breed of plant and will endure quite extremes of winter weather. My local parks department has already planted out its winter stock of pansies, so I guess that I must be doing something right...:hehe: