Cyclamen
Cyclamen are tuberous perennial plants and surprisingly also belong in the family Primulaceae.
The plants that we have in our collection were inherited from Philippe Le Goff and his nursery Le Clos d’armoise. They are are mainly forms and cultivars of botanical species. The easiest ones to grow in the garden are the spring -flowering species such as Cyclamen coum. Grown with early-flowering Primula and Helleborus, they will will naturalise slowly in the garden creating beautiful displays. The autumn flowering C. hederifolium will leap into life as most other flowers in the garden are dying down.
Some of the other species will need a bit more looking after as they are quite tender and the watering can be trickier as they are Mediterranean plants for the most part. This means they often have a dry dormant period over the summer and do not like wet winters either. These plants will appeal to the collectors out there. They can be grown in pots in similar conditions to auriculas in alpine houses or cold greenhouse where you can keep more of an eye on the watering.
To grow them from seed you will need as much patience as for hellebores as they will often only flower after two to three years of growth. To get the best results, the seeds are best sown fresh just after harvest over the summer (July - September) but you can get good results later in the year if you soak the seed first. It is very rewarding way to obtain new plants especially as some of the rarer species are getting harder to find and expensive to buy as tubers.
For more information on sowing Cyclamen see our Sowing pages
