Question: Can I start my pansies from seed myself? I want a lot of plants and would like to save some money.

Answer: Save the frustration. You certainly can’t sow them into the garden directly, and you probably won’t have what it takes to grow them in a greenhouse. Pansies need cool temperatures to germinate, and, by the time it’s cool enough to get them started, it’s too late in the season. The plants you buy in garden centers in the fall were most usually started somewhere cooler and then shipped into Texas as small transplants. Your nurseryman buys them from a greenhouse grower who has taken them to the larger sizes. Unless you intend to get into all of this as a profession, you’re usually better off just letting the growers deal with it.