Trailing autumn/winter pansies - any thoughts?

I bought what I thought were lovely healthy winter flowering pansies from my local nursery last autumn (not the trailing kind though) and they were a huge disappointment until spring. Hardly a peep out of them. I also bought some dwarf Sugar Rush wallflowers and they flowered non-stop from autumn to late spring. A lovely display. I would recommend them without hesitation, with some trailing ivy.

I have always been disappointed with winter flowering pansies. They don't seem to grow at all and I end up pulling them out in the spring to put in summer bedding plants. They are the same as summer pansies but just sown later in the year.

I have grown wall flowers from seed and bought them online as small plants. They seem to be very robust and have a lovely perfume. I don't think they would grow in a hanging basket though.

Skimmias (with red berries) and trailing ivy seem to be the preferred filler for winter pots and baskets.

I change the plants in my pots in autumn and spring. I don't have loads of pots. I am planning to plant dwarf narcissus bulbs. I do this every year. I prefer narcissus as they are perfumed.

Unfortunately, you end up with daffodil leaves taking ages to die back, which can make it hard to plant up the pots up for summer. I was planning to leave the bulbs in so that I didn't need to keep replacing them and could put annual summer bedding plants in around them. I have worked around this but last year I dug them all out and passed them onto a friend who was planting up a grass bank with bulbs.

I think the dwarf wallflowers which I had would be ok in hanging baskets, they are probably about 4 inches tall.

Mine were battered to bits within weeks by the wind and rain.
I think that the front (south facing) of our house is too tough for hanging baskets; they either get baked or wind-battered or drenched!
I think violas are tougher than pansies.

I prefer violas, they don’t trail, but are so pretty and come in more delicate colours.
Often they self seed around the garden.

I’ve grown viola “Coolwave” for the last three years. They flower profusely during Autumn and Spring and intermittently in the Winter. They trail. I always buy from a nursery which sells sturdy, well-grown plants. Online is so hit and miss!

Some years they have been brilliant and disappointing in others. I would give them a go. You really don't have a lot to lose. In fact I might buy some as I have a couple of baskets that are a bit tired.