Monday, November 24, 2008

Pansy - Not such a Lightweight


Why do they call a wimpy person and/or effeminate man a Pansy? Slang dictionaries say that inference is first recorded in 1929. Don’t know who coined the term. It could not have been a gardener, nor does anyone who uses the term thus, know anything about a 'Real Pansy'.


On my morning walk a few days ago, the weather was a balmy 30-something, and I noticed that the landscapers had been out replacing summer plantings with Pansies.


The Pansy is deceptive in its fragile beauty. It is the choice of gardeners when the temperatures head toward freezing. I’ve dusted snow from the beauties more winters than I can count, and so have many a northern gardener. The blizzard of ’93, I carefully shoveled 3 feet of snow from the beauties in my front yard.


So, if anyone ever calls you a Pansy, say “Thank you. That is one beautiful and sturdy flower, and I’m thrilled you think of me so.”