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March can be a gray month. The grass is still brown and crunchy. No flowers sprouting. Occasional sunless days.

When the sun does shine through my kitchen window, I get anxious for spring planting. The realization of how March affects the garden world brought to mind that the month definitely spurs the love affair we have with pansies.

I can hardly wait to shop for pansies. Years earlier I would love shopping for the early blooming plant as a gift for my mother’s March birthday.

I wanted the biggest flowering plants I could find and loved searching out the deep purple blooming plants for her.

You don’t want them in full bloom, but truthfully it’s hard to resist a pansy plant in full bloom.

Oh, the sweet flowering pansy that ushers in spring. It is a versatile plant and flower that needs to be enjoyed before the Nebraska heat floods the garden. Pansies are not great fans of heat. Some will continue to bloom through the hotter days of summer. The majority of them do not like it.

I’ve never planted pansy seeds. Instead, I like to gather four packs and six packs of them to take home and replant into my flowerpots for that pop of fresh spring color.

It’s hard for me to resist cutting the flowers to bring inside. Once I do, they may be used in a variety of ways.

I might wash them carefully and freeze them in ice cubes for spring drinks. Or I may take them and place them in between papers with heavy books placed on them for pressing. Later I can use the preserved flowers for framed art, cards, bookmarks sealed with laminating or use them in other craft projects.

The fresh flowers also make sweet little bouquets set around the house. Finding a container to hold the short stems can be a challenge. Years ago, at a bed and breakfast in Estes Park, the owner had pansy vases with small openings to help prop the stems to enhance the flower show. I use small little glass cordials my grandmother gave me as she had purchased them from a grocery store.

Pansies flowers are edible. Just make sure they haven’t been sprayed or treated with any chemicals. There are recipes online how to sugar them and how to use them in salads or on cakes.

Pansies have a variety of uses including enjoying them in flowerpots. For me, they offer a variety of memories, including my mother’s birthday, to making framed art for friends. I’m anxious to brighten the outdoor landscape with pansies and squelching the dull days of March. Pansies don’t even mind our cool spring temperatures as they can survive a light frost.

If you are tired of the gray days out your kitchen window, fill your view with pansies. There are endless varieties of them They are just one of the sweet horticultural gifts we are given each spring.