PlantFiles: Florist's Cyclamen
Cyclamen persicum

I think I made a mistake in what I did with this one. I thought it would be a good winter and spring bloomer like the pansies, but I don't think it blooms more than once without extra care, and it looks like it probably won't last long once the winter comes next year here in 8a. Oh well, live and learn. It was a nice pretty plant for a little while in the early spring garden, and I didn't pay much at the big box home improvement store for it.

I bought my cyclamen 3 winters ago at Home Depot. Mine is in my kitchen window, Northwest facing. It has bloomed every winter so far, and stays in bloom for months. I love it. The top of the corm is just at the soil surface. I water it from the top, and it hasn't given me any trouble.

This plant seems to be pretty easy to grow. I don't do anything special for it, and every year it blooms. I do remove blooms once they start to droop and fade. Right now mine has been blooming since August, and here it is January and it is STILL blooming. Hasn't let up yet. I think I have fertilized maybe once.

I love it so much, I just bought 2 more at Home Depot!

grow well in light to partial shade here in eugene,or. took some plants with croms?bulbs? from my mother-in laws garden. Seemed to disappear for a while. spotted some last year,dug up & put in containers outside..without saucers, watered when watered my lavender but just enuf to dampen soil Multiplied & filled the containers on own. bloomed from aug. til now.

I've had my fragrant white cyclamen indoors for three years now, and hadn't any idea I shouldn't water it from the top. Guess I've dodged a bullet. It's just coming into bloom now (8/6), in a sunny, but cool, bathroom (the A/C is strong there!). It usually blooms through fall and then gets ugly just when the florist cyclamen is showing up in the supermarkets. I let it rest and be ugly, water sparingly, and in a few months repot with fresh soil. It looks like it's dying for a while, then starts making pretty new foliage in July or so. I may have a freak here - every other cyclamen I've brought home has croaked on me. Gonna try watering from the bottom....

These survive outside in the ground--sort of. That is, some of them do, some of them don't. I've never seen one bloom again, though, unlike Cyclamen coum and Cyclamen neapolitanum varieties. I have all of the Cyclamens in dryish part shade to shade and a sheltered area. The Cyclamen persicum leaves are pretty enough on their own, even without flowers.

Lowe's puts their cyclamen on sale when it looks dingy for a dollar and I buy all of them. Constant, reliable colour all the way to spring when little else is as lovely. Once the flower petals die off, the remaining bulb will expand (or not and get cut off) to dry on the plant. That bulb will produce an abundance of seeds. I get about a 90% germination rate on those and have more babies that I can begin to count.

Can't have enough cyclamen.

I bought one of these plants for about $1 as a scraggly rescue from the discounted plant table at K-Mart last year. I've had success with the Hardy Cyclamens (Cyclamen hederifolium) returning for the past few years and reflowering beneath a Dogwood tree in my garden. For the low price I paid, I was willing to experiment with the Florist's Cyclamen to see if it would recover from its neglect and grow along side the Hardy Cyclamens. It flowered several times through the Fall last year with no effort on my part other than providing good garden soil with lots of humus. With a good covering of hay mulch about 2 " thick, it survived temperatures this winter of about 29 F on a few occasions and has leafed out already. I look forward to seeing if it continues to thrive. I will add more of the Florists' Cyclamen to my garden when I spot them on sale. The flowers are more showy, of course, than the Hardy Cyclamen and add a nice "surprise" to a partially shady border.

I plant my Florist's Cyclamen out side in late January. If we have a hard freeze I will cover them up but light freezes do not hurt them. We are a little wet for them but some have lived two or three years here. They put us in zone 7 but we are realy zone 8a. I plant them in light shade here. They are beautiful and one of the first plants in spring to bloom. keep cuting the old blooms and they will bloom a long time.

Athough this plant is pretty and has the leaves as well a flowers to show I didn't care to much for the stablity of it. It developed root rot quickly and most of the plants died within the first month. I don't think this is a plant suited for my area.

In my shade garden they did very well, not repeat bloomers as I read, but beautifull, they came up well from last year.

I live in southern Nevada in driest desert on the continent. Anyone had experience with these plants in such conditions? We're somewhat comparable to Mediterranean; obviously hotter & dryer. Thanks for any feedback.

I have great luck with this plant indoors in an east window. I feed it with Jobes houseplant spikes every two months and it blooms and blooms. Keep slightly moist, not dry... but never soaking wet either. Do not allow to sit in water. Use a porous clay container. Cut back spent blooms.

I received this plant as a gift. I had no idea what it was! I had seen them before, but didn't know the name.

I put it in a location where light would be reflected on it from a white wall. It bloomed! I removed the spent blooms, and it bloomed AGAIN! It had even more flowers the second time.

I water it once per week with vitamin B1 added to the water.

The small cyclamen are much less finicky than the big ones. Mine has grown and flowered for three months so far, it lives in a room about 58°F.

To leach the soil, pour water into the pot around the edges, rather than in the center where the bulb is lying. Allow all the water to run away freely from the drainage holes, then replace the pot into its outer sleeve.

Some cyclamen are fragrant, and those are the ones I always go for. The fragrance is pervasive but not overly so.

Although I heard these plants are quite finicky, I've had good success by giving it a cooler area to reside in the house, several hours of afternoon sun, watering from below once a week, and every other week a light fertilizing. I cut the spent blooms and stems off to allow the energy to be spent growing other blooms, and cut off any dead yellowing leaves off to the bottom of the tuber area (although since acquiring it I haven't seen anymore dead/yellow leaves.)

The biggest concern was not watering from the top as no one told me about the possiblity of rot. I did water from the top one time when I got it, but then again, it was in dire straits and hasn't seemed to affect it. When running the salts from fertilizer through, I don't know how one would do that without watering from the top.

All in all, this plant really cheered me up! Much better choice than Poinnsettia, I think.

Cyclamen requires ample light and cool. The seed germinate at around 56°F. Cover the seed with vermiculite and keep dark and evenly moist until chitting occurs. Then temperature can be increased to around 62°F. Once Cyclamen has achieved reasonable pot size, it will grow on with temperatures in the 70°F-80°F range. It takes around 9 months or so to produce a blooming plant.

To get a Cyclamen to rebloom, be sure to remove the spent flowers and feed it regularly with a balanced liquid-feed fertilizer (such as 20-10-20) at around 200-300 ppm N, once or twice weekly. Ensure that fertilizer salts do not build up in the soil, leaching regularly by watering thorougly with fertilizer-free cold water. It is a moderate feeder. Do not allow go completely dry, but do not over water either. The top of its corm should be above soil level in the pot. Standard clay pots are best since they provide evaporative cooling and good drainage. Light is essential, but it should be protected from the harsh hot light of summer. An East-facing porch with some shade should be optimal for summertime. In the wintertime, a south-facing window may be best.

Cyclamen is a wonderful plant for the holidays. It was considered the "Christmas Flower" long before Poinsettias. It does seem to thrive best in a greenhouse, but it can do quite well with the proper conditions.

Seeds should be stored in a cool dry place.

Pretty flowers in several colors, brightens your window sill on the fall days... :} Hard to get re-bloom.

As with the new guinea impatien am having difficulty getting the plant to bloom. Have tried different suggestions with no positive results. Would like more info on forcing the plant into dormancy as was suggested to get it to rebloom.

Tuberous perennial from the South Mediterranean and North Africa.

Has heart shaped, dark green often marked with silver, sometimes toothed with a purplish or green underneath. Bears fully reflexed, scented, shades of white through to red flowers.

Flowers in the Winter and Spring depending on conditions.

Likes a soil based compost with the top of the tuber open to the air in full light. Water moderately when in growth and keep dry in dormancy. Hardy down to 50F