A year of ‘PANSIES’…
On March 11, 2026 by Three Brothers Blooms
March 11th, 2025 was the official publication date of my first book PANSIES – How to Grow, Reimagine, and Create Beauty with Pansies and Violas (Timber Press). This book is truly a work of heart. “The little book that could”, as my agent called it. I shared more about why I wrote the book through a POST, before it had even published, hoping that my intentions would come through in my writing and the particular selection of information I chose to include in the book. I find it hard to adequately express just how grateful I am to every single person who helped get this book out into the world, and give it the most loving start possible.
Publishing is an intimidating world, especially when you know nothing about it. I don’t think that my book would have even been considered had it not been for the kindness of those people who held open doors, voiced support for my vision, and took a chance on a book that had never been done quite this way before. We ignored rejection from publishers not willing to take the chance. We did a lot of pivoting. We lost an important and wonderful woman within our team to illness, and had another remarkable woman step in willing to take on a huge workload with a very small window for completion. We had a last minute cover swap, and a fair amount of uncertainty, but mostly, it was a lot of wondrous moments watching my dream materialize into a tangible thing of beauty and purpose. I will be forever grateful to the team behind the book, Connected Dots Media, and Timber Press.
Italian Pansy
In the weeks before publication, I seized the invitation and opportunity to travel and learn more about the work being done in hybridizing new and astonishing varieties of pansies and violas. My first destination was Italy, to learn from and better understand the Faraone Mennella family, brought about an opportunity that changed the trajectory of my business in a wonderfully unexpected way. They are the family responsible for the beautiful Italian varieties, such as “Chianti”. I would love for you to READ MORE about their family and my trip, if you haven’t already.
Japanese Pansy
After Italy, I was off to Japan. An honored guest of Mr. Isao Sato, I spent several days learning about all his hybridization efforts and was taught how they grow, harvest and package pansies as cut flowers in Japan. I wrote about my trip to Japan in a recent post, if you would like to learn more. Both trips were life changing, and helped me argue my case that the pansy is a flower of splendor, deserving of the spotlight once again.
Signing books at Floret
Within days of returning from Japan, it was time to ship out all of the pre-orders for my book. Erin Benzakein, and the Floret Team, graciously offered to allow me use of their barn, where the pallets of books were delivered, unpacked, signed, wrapped, orders fulfilled, and finally shipped out. I don’t know how I would have managed without their help. It was such a wonderful day and I am so grateful to them all for the tremendous support. Erin documented everything, and you can watch some behind the scenes videos if you head over to her Instagram. Additionally, she did a very generous AUTHOR INTERVIEW on her website, which received so many wonderful and encouraging comments.
Celebrating at the Historic Lady Florence
The day of, March 11th, I had an intimate gathering of family, friends, flower farmers and local business owners. People who had lovingly supported me through the book process and who helped me get PANSIES out into the world. It was a loving way to celebrate and thank them all personally, by enjoying the evening in a beautiful historic home in our community. The next day was the official public book launch at Third Place Books. The event was at capacity and they sold out of my book, which was a wonderful way to kick off the “official” release. The book became a bestseller on Amazon, and sold out on Bookshop.org within days.
Photo courtesy of Wave Hill
The next week I flew to New York to speak on a panel with Ngoc Minh Ngo and Frances Palmer at Wave Hill, in a conversation led by Stephen Orr. It was one of the most memorable events I have ever been a part of, as so many talented and extraordinary people were in attendance. I was deeply honored to have been invited.
Since its publication, PANSIES has been featured in multiple magazines and has been given special recognition through print, interviews, and podcasts all over the world. I’m genuinely astonished at the gracious amount of love and international support that has been shown for this book. I truly believed this book needed to be written, as there was no other book like it, and I feel so fortunate to have been the one to get to do it. I will forever champion pansies and violas as the exceptional flowers they are. Thank you to everyone who has helped me cheer their praise. Your support and shared passion mean the absolute world to me. I look forward to helping get more exceptional and new varieties into your gardens, each and every year from here on out.
I love your book so much and really applaud you for moving forward through all kinds of obstacles. Your success is so well-deserved. And since I am a huge pansy lover, I’m just so grateful to have this book out in the world. It sits on my coffee table permanently so that I can pick it up and look at it any time.
Thank you so much, I am so grateful for your kind praise and support.
Happy one beautiful year of Pansies Brenna. It feels fitting that the story of this small, expressive flower mirrors the story of local agriculture itself. There was a time when efficiency and uniformity quietly pushed both pansies and small flower farms to the margins. And yet, like so many meaningful things, they did not disappear. They waited.
Now we are witnessing their gentle return. A cultural turning back toward authenticity, toward seasonal rhythm, toward flowers that carry the imprint of place and the hands that tended them. Local growers are part of this quiet restoration and I’m forever grateful to be one of them, preserving fragile threads of genetic history, responding to land and weather, offering blooms that feel rooted in memory as much as in soil.
Your book has helped reopen hearts and eyes to the whimsy, fragrance, and storytelling power of pansies. Their resurgence is more than a trend, it feels like a remembering. A soft but steady movement back toward community, beauty, and the belief that flowers are not simply products. They are messengers. They are keepers of time. They are stories in bloom.
Thank you for tending this flower and it’s story so lovingly.
You honor me with your kind words, thank you truly.