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Psyched on cyclamens!
by Margie Lachman

Fall catalogues have been arriving with gorgeous photos of brightly colored tulips and daffodils. Those are pretty, but one plant I love is the cyclamen, which is a great plant for edging. This tuber comes in a variety of blooming seasons from summer through winter into spring.

By hamon jp - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, link to Wikimedia

They are mostly hardy, have attractive heart or kidney-shaped leaves and dainty flowers—from rose red to white—resembling butterflies. When the flowers fade the stalk takes a spring shape with a seed capsule on the end. Seeds are dispersed by ants that spread them gently, increasing your treasure modestly with no work on your part. When a leaf appears, the bulblet can be carefully lifted and transplanted to a spot of your choosing. Plant shallowly in well drained soil.

In our front garden, I planted three cyclamen hederifolium (ivy leaved) in shallow pots buried up to the rim so roots from a Colorado blue spruce would not devour them. Every summer the pink flowers appear for weeks and gradually the leaves emerge. Growing larger every year, the tubers have dozens of blooms.

C. coum, a late winter and early spring bloomer, can have flowers varying from deep crimson-rose to pink and even white. The beautiful leaves can be mottled with silver and a few are mostly silver with a green edge.

These are but two of many varieties that are hardy in our climate. All are easy plants to grow in sun or part shade. A side dressing of compost is all the fertilizer they need to keep them healthy. The tubers are dormant in summer and prefer a dry location then, a perfect plant for under pines where soil is quite dry.

A necklace of cyclamen edging a bed or a carpet of them under a tree or shrub is a lovely sight. What more can a gardener ask?

Questions? Email me at margierose2@gmail.com or call 503-645-2994

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