Plant profile: hardy cyclamen Plantsman John Hoyland recommends 16 of the best hardy cyclamen
With their delicate f lowers and patterned foliage, cyclamens are a welcome sight in February when so little else is in f lower. A succession of species can provide colour from September to March
AFrench nursery rhyme announces that summer is over when the meadows fill with colchicums. In my garden I notice the change into autumn not from colchicums or autumn’s leaf changing colours but from the pink or white flowers of cyclamen that begin to appear under shrubs, in the short grass and hugging the base of trees. Long lived, undemanding and with a resilience masked by the delicacy of their flowers, Cyclamen are indispensable. From September onwards there are species of hardy cyclamen that will flower in relay until March.
The first to flower and the most widely grown is Cyclamen hederifolium, which is widespread in deciduous woodlands across a swathe of southern Europe and on Mediterranean islands. The plant is a tuber that remains dormant throughout the summer to be woken by the drop in temperature and the start of the autumn rains. The flowers appear first, with tight buds unfurling to pink, white, sometimes magenta petals that sweep backwards, the flower nodding downwards to protect its pollen from rain. The leaves appear soon afterwards in a wide variety of shapes and patterns: rounded, heart-shaped or ivy-like (hederifolium means ‘ivy-leaved’); smooth, crimped or toothed margins; from plain green or silver to delicately patterned in grey or pewter and often with purplish undersides.
There are other species that flower alongside C. hederifolium in the autumn. C. mirabile has sweetly perfumed flowers whose pale-pink petals have an upward twist. The leaves are typically heavily marbled with a silvery frosting. It is very similar to C. cilicium, blooming at the same time, which has flowers that smell deliciously of honey. It is not as hardy as other species but will grow in sheltered gardens not prone to heavy frosts.
As C. hederifolium signals the slow wind down to winter so C. coum heralds the start of the gardening year with its first flowers pushing open around Christmas and then appearing sporadically until March. Ideally, it prefers slightly richer soils than its earlier-flowering cousin but is otherwise as stalwart. The flowers encompass the same colour range of pinks, magentas and white and there are few sights more cheering than their sparkling flowers shining through a dour February day.
Like C. hederifolium, C. coum produces seedlings with a lot of variation in the foliage, which can be a delight in the garden but causes headaches for nurserymen. C. coum Pewter Group includes plants with leaves with a matt pewter sheen but I have often seen plants under that name with foliage that ranges from deep green to bright silver. If you are fussy about the look of your cyclamen buy them when you can see the leaves and flowers.
Other species of spring-flowering cyclamen tend not to be as robust as C. coum. C. pseudibericum has large magenta petals and smells of violets but will not thrive in cold, wet gardens. If you garden in an area with mild winters and can provide it with shade, C. repandum, with perfumed, reddish-ink flowers and scalloped leaves, is a treasure.
Don’t be tempted to grow C. hederifolium and C. coum together. It might sound like a good form of succession planting but C. hederifolium is much more vigorous and will soon overwhelm the C. coum. If your garden is large enough, grow the two well apart, otherwise stick to one species. In my garden C. coum romps around in short grass, and even seeds itself into paving cracks. Elsewhere, I have seen it planted in borders among Sternbergia lutea and the autumn crocus, Crocus speciosus. In the wild C. coum grows among primulas and hellebores, which is always a sign that a plant combination will triumph in the garden. Wherever you plant them, cyclamen will insist on seeding themselves into places they prefer. Leave them to find their own setting. I have learned that where they are happiest is where they are most beautiful.
• Author John Hoyland is a plantsman and garden writer. His recommendations for hardy cyclamen continue over the next five pages.
Cultivation
Hardy cyclamen are easy to grow as long as you avoid heavy soils that are apt to get waterlogged. If you do have very wet soil it is probably best to grow them in pots or raised beds. They are at their happiest around the base of deciduous trees and large shrubs. These are areas that are cool and shady in the summer but light and moist during the autumn and winter.
Don’t confuse hardy cyclamen with the florist’s cyclamen that you see for sale during the winter. These are forms of a tender species, C. persicum, that have been cosseted throughout their lives and will not survive outdoors.
An important consideration when growing cyclamen is whether to buy them as dry tubers or as already rooted plants in pots. Potted plants are more expensive but will establish more quickly and flower immediately; tubers will take some time to establish and probably won’t flower the first year after planting. Plant container-grown cyclamen at the same level as they are in their pot and plant tubers about 3cm to 4cm below the surface. If you are planting tubers, make sure that they are the correct way up. The flat or slightly indented face is the top.
Propagation
The sweeps of cyclamen that are seen in the wild are a testament to the nifty ways in which the genus has developed to ensure that its seed is distributed efficiently. Cyclamen seeds are held in capsules on the end of spring-like stems that unwind to deposit the seed as close to the ground as possible, increasing the chances of germination. Seed distribution is further assisted by ants, birds and small mammals. Attracted by the sweet coating covering the seeds, ants take away the seeds to a safe place, eat the sugars and leave the seed to germinate. Small birds that are attracted to the sweet treats eat them and then redistribute the seeds through their droppings.
The oft-quoted advice of collecting cyclamen seed and sprinkling it around has never worked for me. The expanse of cyclamen in my own garden have been produced by simply letting nature do the work and (very occasionally) collecting and sowing the seed of a species I wanted to encourage. Seed should be sown as soon as possible after it ripens in trays or shallow pans. I use John Innes seed compost with a small amount (about 10 per cent) of perlite and the same amount of leaf mould. The seed should be sown thinly and covered with about one centimetre of horticultural grit. Leave the containers in a shady place outside, keep the compost moist and wait. Germination is irregular, with some seedlings appearing after a couple of months and some waiting a year or so. Leave the young plants in the trays for a second year to develop a tuber and then plant out in the garden when they are dormant, roughly between May and August.