I've Been Paralysed by Pansies

I don't usually do much seasonal decor, other than Christmas Decorations.  Our house is in a semi-rural area and I think that the great outdoors does a pretty good job of changing the decorations on the trees and I have nice windows, so I just watch.  One exception is the containers on my entry porch. I like to have flowers in a ever changing group of large pots by my front door and my Impatiens and Coleus will not survive the freeze that will come in a couple of weeks. So, I've been shopping for cold weather plants.  We're lucky that we live in Arkansas where plants can live through the winter. When my Momma was in Montana she arraigned  pine branches in her empty containers to look like shrubs.  The cold kept them fresh and green until spring when she could replant.

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The choices for winter planting are limited compared to summer plants. Pansies (and their relatives) and Decorative Kale, Cabbage, or other cabbage relatives.  This year choosing the pansy varieties to plant is overwhelming me. Normally I'm a person who knows what I like and I love to make color combinations of plants. I think the problem is - I've got too many choices.  Maybe I've spent too much time reading decor magazines and on Pintrest and I'm overwhelmed with ideas.  I've been advised by the nursery expert on the morning TV show that pansies need to be planted early or they won't bloom very much, even come spring. One choice is bright warm fall colors such as orange and yellows.  I even saw a grouping of orange and dark, dark purple pansies that shouted Halloween. The nursery expert (again on morning TV) suggested you could put them in your containers now and after Halloween find another place for them in the ground.  I assume that you then need more pansies in different colors to fill the now empty containers.  I"m already feeling bad for the poor sad pansies that are shunted to some corner of the garden to live their lives hidden because they don't "match" the current holiday.

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I think it is the holiday thing. Pansies will bloom until spring. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Valentines Day and Easter will all pass with the same pansies at my front door.  I've just stated that I'm not concerned with seasonal decorating, but, I must be worried about clashing holidays.  Why I'm worried this year? You never know when you will just up and loose your mind.

Maybe an all white color scheme will be best.  It will go with my Christmas lights.  Only problem is that my summer color scheme has been all white with green. I'm tired of it.

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In years past I've fallen in love with the variegated pastels. Maybe not fallish, or even Christmasy, but pretty.  In desperation,  I just decided to go and grab something.  My local big box orange store helped me out by having very a limited selection. I resisted the urge to run to every plant outlet I know and just took what was available.

My flowers waiting to get plopped in a pot

They had white and blue and purple violas. What a way to overcome Pansy Paralysis. Sometimes it's better to not over think things. 

They did have the cabbages and cabbages make me happy regardless of  the season. Christmas lights look great with anything. Do you ever feel overwhelmed by choices?