Pansy · Kirov, Kirov Oblast, Russia
When to sow pansies in Kirov
Main outdoor window
20 Apr - 25 May
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
18 May
In Kirov, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
19 Jul - 18 Aug
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Kirov
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Start indoors
23 Feb - 30 Mar
Twelve weeks before your last frost, under cover or on a windowsill.
Plant out
20 Apr - 25 May
Four weeks before your last frost.
In flower
19 Jul - 18 Aug
Pansies through the year
Against the frost risk in Kirov
Why these dates
Start indoors twelve weeks before the last frost and plant out four weeks before it - pansies want cool soil and stop flowering in summer heat. For winter and early spring flowers, sow in midsummer and plant out in early autumn, six weeks before the first frost, so the roots establish before the cold.
Hardy to about -15C and flowers whenever the temperature rises above about 4C, which is why it blooms in midwinter in zone 8. Dies out in summer heat above roughly 30C rather than in the cold.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Pansies are timed from 12 weeks before that frost for an indoor start, with planting out 4 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Kirov.
Kirov sits in zone 3b, which is colder than this crop is rated for, so it will need winter protection or a container that can be moved under cover. The dates below still describe the right time of year; the open question is survival rather than timing.
The median frost-free season here is 135 days, against 90 to 120 days to first flower for this crop counted from planting out. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Kirov
Other flowers to time
Growing pansies in Kirov
When should I plant pansies in Kirov?
Aim for 20 Apr - 25 May in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 28 Apr - 2 Jun - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will pansies be ready to harvest in Kirov?
Expect to start picking around 19 Jul - 18 Aug, based on 90 to 120 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will pansies tolerate?
Hardy to about -15C and flowers whenever the temperature rises above about 4C, which is why it blooms in midwinter in zone 8. Dies out in summer heat above roughly 30C rather than in the cold.