Florist's Cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum)

Florist's Cyclamen
Cyclamen persicum

Are you growing this outside?

Yes. I have some in hanging baskets and some in the ground. They do great here from fall until really hot weather arrives.

Zone envy again...I love the foliage of cyclamen...guess I will have to be content with my hardy ones outside. How do you oversummer the corms? I have a florist cyclamen I just acquired as a funeral plant last week and I wonder what it will do this summer since they are supposed to be kept cool. Should I keep it in the house with A/C, or outside in the shade, or let it dry out and store it? Thanks for any suggestions. It is blooming now (purple).

I would keep it outside in the shade and then permit it to go dormant naturally. Remove the corm and store it. Be sure to keep it dry. When you plant it, be sure to have the top portion of the corm above the soil line so it won't rot.

Okay, thanks a lot, Hazel.
Susan

Your welcome, Susan. I had a lot and I mean a lot of new plants come up from seed last year after I did not deadhead near the end of the plants growing season. I had read that they are difficult to propagate by seed.

Yes, I once bought seed, terribly expensive to me at the time, and not one germinated. I have heard of cutting the corms into pieces, treating with sulfur and allowing to heal over a few days, and then planting each piece as a plant, but I have never tried it yet.

I have never heard of cutting the corms apart. I have several that I stored over the summer, but alas I don't know where I put them. Old age setting in I guess. I have several that I did find. I planted them in September and they are leafed out, but not blooming yet.

I was told by a local nursery that this Cyclamen is called "Sierra" and is grown in Colorado. The person at the nursery also said they do not have to have protection during cold weather and freezes. Last year, they were planted in masses at the Arboretum shopping area and thrived through the winter until spring, when they were replaced with new plants.
I live in Austin, TX and mine were planted earlier this month. They have grown quite a lot in about 3-weeks time. I am going to upload two of my Cyclamens.

Here is another cyclamen in my yard from Austin, TX, Zone 8b.

It's a great colour, a real red is nice to see. I think they are almost as hardy as petunias. I think good quality seed is very easy and reliable to grow. At least I ended up throwing most of the seedlings away or lack of space. The hardier spp are a bit trickier to germinate.

It's good to see this thread bumped up.
I still have the seedlings you sent me, Hazel, in a pot. They are getting ready to bloom again. However, the plants I put outside died, some the first winter, and the others last year. So I have concluded that they are not hardy here in Missouri. Wish they were!

Hi Kenton!

Deloresw, don't you just love them! Thanks for the photos and the name of the red one. It usually blooms more than the others for me. They can handle the freezes, ice and snow in our zone and add such beauty during the cool months. Thank you for your comments.

JamesCO, I usually try to have all the different colors of blooms, but the red is one of my favorites. All of the different types have produced new lots of plants from seed for me. The white one I have does not go dormant in our hot summers. Thank you for your comments.

Toxicohendron, it is good to hear from you. I will d-mail you later to catch up on things. I am happy to hear some of the cyclamen I sent you are doing well and sorry that the others died. The ones I had in the ground did not make it because the rotted during their dormancy period due to my watering the other plants. I had a lot different kinds of babies in hanging baskets; but, alas, the squirrels killed them all as well as other plants in containers attached to my privacy fence. The only one that they did not destroy is the white one. Due to the expense, I will not be able to buy any more this year. Thank you for your comments.

This message was edited Nov 28, 2006 9:33 AM

Oh, that's terrible! Naughty squirrels!

Maybe mine rotted with our wet winter???

If mine should set seed, I will save you some. I have red, white, and pink that you gave me.

Susan, yes, the squirrels have been very naughty during the heat and drought this year. They would dig out my plants in hanging baskets along with about half of the dirt and then cozily position themselves for a nice long nap on the cool, damp potting soil. I bet your cyclamen did rot if the winter was really wet. I would love some seeds if your plants produce some. Thanks for the offer.

You're most welcome!
The plants you gave me are still crowded into a 4 inch pot in the greenhouse (shame on me) and I don't know if the seeds will form without certain pollinators or not. But by spring, when the vents are open a lot, they should get pollinated if necessary. Not sure what colors the seed might produce, since they are all together.

I'll cross my fingers ... :o). Thanks again.

Thanks for your nice comments about my cyclamen plants. Three out of eight did not live through the summer, but the others are healthy and bloomed for a very long time. I am uploading some I have in a pot that have bloomed continuously since last December. I purchased four 4-inch plants at Lowe's for $1.50 each and they have been amazing. I have done nothing other than water them. I wish now I had purchased more!

Deloresw,
Some of mine that went dormant in the summer have reprouted and are starting to bloom. If the bulb is still firm, yours may come back out. I bought mine in 4 inch pots at Lowe's early last December. Almost all of the ones that did not go dormant bloomed all summer I guess because of the cooler weather we have had. The white one that I have had in a hanging basket for a long time bloomed almost all year and is still going strong. Thanks for sharing your photo.

The larger cyclamen in my flower beds were planted by a landscaper. The ones that survived have grown quite a bit, but are not blooming yet. I am confused about the name of them, because a person at the local nursery told me they were "Sierra" but whoever names them on this website named them "cyclamen pseudibericum." They provided a link to the plant files site where they placed the picture of the full flower bed and write-up, but I don't understand why they are not listed with the other cyclamens.

Do you know whether the pseudibericum is the same as the persicum?

To htop, San Antonio, TX

After I posted the last email, I went back to the page (plant watch) where the cyclamen had been identified as Family, Primulaceae; Species, Pseudibericum and it had been transferred to this link. I know it is not identified correctly, because this species only lists the color pink and I am in Zone 8b. Mine are pink, red, and lavender so I think they should be listed under the species persicum.

This is to htop in San Antonio or anyone else that can provide me with an answer or thoughts about why my large cyclamens are not blooming this year--see the image in the previous post. I have applied Miracle-Gro to them three times. They have grown quite a lot and look very healthy, but no blooms. They were blooming in November last year. I bought two more of the same species in the Fushia color in November and planted them in another area. They have been blooming very nicely.

Any idea?

Deloresw

Deloresw. you have done a great job keeping them alive for so long. A lot of people have not been as successfull because cyclamen have been proven to be a bit difficult to keep alive. Providing the right conditions and care to enable them to thrive can be a challenge. I have been lucky with mine. Many times, they are treated as an annual and discarded after they complete their bloom cycle. However, they are a very expensive annual.

Sometimes this type of cyclamen does not start blooming until late winter or early spring when planted outside in the ground. Also, the ones you bought in November may have been treated with a hormone to get them to bloom early. The growers cultivate the plants with optimum temperatures as well. My white cyclamen did not have a period if dormancy where all of the leaves die back. It is in a container and has new bloom buds emerging now. Usually, it blooms earlier. It is a different type of cyclamen.

The temperatures were very warm this fall. Perhaps this is part of the problem as well; however, the ones I bought in December of last year are blooming and they never went dormant. I would not fertilize them for a while. Sometimes too much fertilizer causes them to use all of their energy to produce leaves instead of blooms. In fact, I seldom fertilize mine. They do not need to be covered during freezes and can withstand ice storms very well. I really don't know why yours are not blooming. Perhaps, they are just taking a rest. Just give them some time and cross your fingers.

Thanks so much for you information and advice! The $1.50 red ones I bought December 2005 at Lowes and have in a pot have not stopped blooming at all. They have bloomed continuously and seem very happy where they are. The ones in the flowerbed have produced "babies" so I am anxious to see how they were turn out. I only fertilized them, because I read somewhere that they need fertilizer from time to time. I won't do it again.

Last year, one of the ladies at Barton Springs Nursery told me the same thing about they did not need to be covered. Last week, I covered the ones in the pot, because some of the blooms had frozen and were wilting. I will leave them alone during the next cold front.

I logged in to look up more information about my Calendula plant. Do you know anything about the plant? I have it outside in a pot, and it is loaded with blooms. It is supposed to get down to 38 degrees tonight so have been contemplating on whether I should put it back in the garage. I have read the plant does not like changes in temperatures.

Thanks again!

I am sorry that I did not see your post until this morning. I usually plant them in early spring and I can't remember if a freeze damaged them. I would bring them in just to be safe.

That is okay. I elected to leave them outside as well as my gazanias and gerbera daisies, which was probably a big mistake. It is now 35 degrees! Usually when they predict low temperatures, it does not come to past. Oh well. I uploaded a picture of the Calendulas last night.

Delores

My gazanzias and gerbera daisies seem to have handled temps in the upper 20s without protection. The gazanzias are in the ground and the gerberas are in containers. The gerbera are not blooming right now so I am not sure how a hard freeze would effect the blooms. If I remember correctly, the first hard freeze we had killed their blooms. My neighbor down the street has quite a few gerberas in the ground and they have survived freezes without protection for several years. They are under a large oak tree which of course protects them a little. The gazanzia blooms had a bit of frost nip on them but they survived.

For some strenge reason, even though we have had a lot of hard freezes that have lasted more tha just a few hours, a ot of my plants have not died back. In years past, I spent hours upon hours wrapping them in freeze cloth, then unwrapping them and then wrapping when freezes were to occur. Last year my Mother was very ill and I did not wrap them on 2 very cold nights. To my amazement, most of them were not damaged. So, this year, I decided that I'm just getting to old to keep up with this process and I have not protected anything. The only plants that have died back are the lantana, firebush, one yellow and esparanza. My angel trumpets have lost their leaves, but the stems look okay. I do place a lot of my plants that I know will die in a hard freeze in my greenhouse; such as, impatiens, begonia, some succulents, container lemon and lime trees, etc.

Y'all usually have colder temps than we do down here. I hope your plants are okay,

Thanks for your reply. My front flowerbeds are looking pathetic--worse than last year at this time.

The night I left the Calendula out, it got down to 35 degrees. The cold nipped the blooms, but the plant is still living. The low was 34 last night, but I put it in the garage. I have been putting it outside during the day and the blooms opened back up, and I have new ones. I have quit putting the gazanias outside, because the pot is too heavy for me to lift every day. I gave up on the gerbera and left it outside. I too am getting too old to lift those pots every day. I have finally decided that if they die, I can always replace them. I need to replace the heavy, stone pots with the plastic ones--not as pretty--but are much easier to move. I think I will try planting the calendula and gazanias in my flowerbeds in the spring so I won't have to go through this again next winter.

The prediction for here is colder weather later this week with the possibility of rain. We really need the rain!

I too have decided this winter that I am getting to old to keep lugging large heavy plant containers in and out each winter. After having quadruple bypass heart surgery a couple of yeras back, lifting things has become more of a problem. I think gerberas will be fine outside. The blooms may be affected by the freezes, but the plants survive and rebloom quite quickly. The gazanias that are in the ground have new blooms even after the freezes. If you want to save the blooms on the plants in the containers, you can buy some wooden dowels or bamboo sticks, stick 3 or 4 of them around the plants and cut them to where they are about 3 or 4 inches above the tops of the plants. Then, when the temps are going to be really low, you can throw a sheet, towel (I use frost cloth) or whatever over the dowels. I tighten the covering at the bottom around the top of the container and secure it with clothespins. You then have a mini-greenhouse. The frost cloth works great because it permits the plants to receive light and they can be left this way for quite some time. Yes, we sure do need rain . We are in a "mini-drought' right now. The lack of rain is sure going to affect the wildflowers this year.