what should i do with my pansies now, so they flower again next year?

Answer 1

"True pansies" can weather temperatures in the single digits and bounce back after the weather warms. But they can be that strong and resourceful only if they've had a chance to get a good footing before cold weather hits.

Give pansies what they want--well-drained, rich soil in a sunny to partly shady location. Amend the soil with a little finished compost or rotted manure. To ensure good drainage and to help them stand out a bit more in your design, raise the planting bed by a few inches.
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/gl_seasonal_fall/article/0,1785,HGTV_3625_1391739,00.html

Avoid using fertilizers containing high amounts of slow-release ammoniacal nitrogen. "High rates of ammoniacal nitrogen will cause pansy stems to stretch and become succulent during the warm fall weather. This weakens the plants and makes them more susceptible to winter injury. Ammoniacal nitrogen also is slow to be absorbed by the plants during the winter months when soil temperatures drop below 45 degrees F. Pansies can starve during the winter months even though the soil contains high amounts of ammoniacal nitrogen....
A thorough drenching of the soil at transplant with 150 ppm of a soluble greenhouse fertilizer such as 20-10-20 will work well for the first weeks of September and October. Avoid high rates of nitrogen during September and later in April and May.."
http://pubs.caes.uga.edu/caespubs/horticulture/pansies.html
Water plants well & apply pine straw 2-4 inches thick to protect pansys from freeze injury.

Advice from Mike McGrath (91FM):
"The plants will produce new blossoms at least until it gets REALLY cold. Then, depending on the weather, you might give them a little winter protection in the North. A few evergreen boughs placed gently overtop of the plants is the ideal protection; just use cut branches from discarded Christmas trees! Don't try and really 'mulch' them--the branches are just there to prevent the plants from being crushed if we get heavy snow or ice; they don't care about the cold.
Any Northern gardeners who get a nice warm spell midwinter should remove those boughs and let the plants enjoy it--they may even flower for you!
Remove any winter protection early--in February or March here in the North; as soon as the first Spring bulbs begin to poke up. Don't worry about frost--these super-hardy posies laugh at it! They'll begin flowering quickly and provide you with tons of flowers till summer's heat finally blasts them out...generally around the end of June or early July here in the North (which, coincidentally, is the time you should start seeds inside if you want to grow your own plants for Fall). "
http://www.whyy.org/91FM/ybyg/pansies.html

Good luck! Hope this is helpful.

Answer 2

Pansies are annuals, which means you plant them every year; although if the conditions are right, you can nurse them through a winter. They tend to die off in hot summers. Most people just buy new seeds each spring.