I have a long low planter, last autumn when I cleared out the dead
summer flowers, the garden centres seemed to be flogging winter
flowering pansies, so I bought a few, and they the trick stopping the
planter looking bare over winter, didn't grow much.

But then in spring they *really* started to grow, mounding-up in the
planter and tumbling over the edge, with plenty of flowers, looked very
nice ... then in the last week they've completely died off and
shrivelled away ... have the seasons confused them, should they have
flowered vigorously over winter and died earlier?