Saucy Cyclamenby Ruby Weinberg
In early spring, I usually plant a few small flats with seed of the ivy-leafed cyclamen, Cyclamen hederifolium. The saucy pink or white blooms and ivy-like foliage bring unexpected delight to every garden where they are displayed -- unexpected because they pop up from dormancy in autumn. From seed, it's a long term project, but if you want to grow many plants, the time and patience required are well worth the effort. Then the petals appear tossed up and over each stem, and I am reminded of dancers in a Toulouse Lautrec painting with their reflexive skirts. Cyclamen tubers, once incorrectly called corms,¯ are flattish, swollen, underground stems that look something like lumpy potatoes. Each bloom, as it emerges from the tuber, is fascinating to watch. Tiny stems, from 7-10 inches, first uncoil and float just above the soil. When the leaves emerge, they cover the area around the stems in an ever thickening carpet. It is clear, then, why the species was named “hederifolium" - the botanical name for English ivy. Dormant mail order tubers, sold loose, are sometimes offered by bulb specialists but here's the rub; which side is up and which down? An incorrect guess could cause the tubers to disappear. If you are able to purchase them already planted in containers, you'll be way ahead of the game, but potted two or three year old tubers can be very costly. Growing C. hederifolium from seed solves this problem and is an inexpensive way of producing many tubers for a good sized display. Fresh seed, perhaps available in a friend's garden, is the most desirable, but I've had good luck with the dry-stored offered by many seed exchanges and mail order firms. After you soak them in warm water for 24 hours, sow the seed just below the surface in a peat based compost with some granite chips added for good drainage. The seed pans are then placed in a cool room, 50-60 degrees, with light excluded. Tiny leaves first appear after six weeks although some may take much longer; I've even found sprouted tubers in a pail of old, recycled soil! In another month, plantlets are potted up individually with the tubers barely visible above the soil surface. (Like tuberous begonias, these grow larger each year.) The pots are then placed under lights or in a greenhouse, and by mid-spring, outdoors in the shade. Some people permanently set small cyclamen plants in the garden by August, but unfortunately, squirrels and/or chipmunks on our property find the little tubers as delicious as acorns. To foil these critters, I keep the cyclamen potted for at least another year. My aim is to grow tubers that are as large as possible. In late autumn, it's on to my greenhouse (or an unheated garage) until the following spring. When finally set in the garden, the tubers should be too fat for rodents to consume. My interest in the genus was first awakened years ago when we visited Nancy Goodwin's garden, Montrose, in North Carolina. In early summer, her greenhouses were bursting with every conceivable kind of cyclamen. Many, I was told, were already mass planted in her garden. I wondered whether some of them would winter well in my colder New Jersey garden. Then we visited Nina Lambert, a rock gardener in Ithaca, NY. Ithaca is winter icebox territory, but yet, Nina manages to grow quite a few hardy outdoor species. She is an expert, and her work with growing magnificent cyclamen has become well known in rock garden society circles. Her success was good news for me in my cold, damp northern New Jersey valley with far too few suitable cyclamen areas. Most cyclamen species need both shade and well drained soil. Root infested soil below trees, where few other plants will grow, are perfect for the majority of them. For me, the space below my pine trees proved to be a fairly suitable area... Unlike so many short-in-bloom perennials, C. hederifolium flowers for a very long time--often as early as August and well into Thanksgiving. The foliage remains all winter finally disappearing in late April of the following year. It is hardy from Southern Canada through the Mid-Atlantic States. If C. hederifolium is successful in your garden, you might try C. coum which has round leaves, a wider color range into purplish-reds, and blooms from early March through mid-spring. Everything about them is petite, so they really need a little hill near your house to fully enjoy them. If you position them where they are happy, they will seed around nicely creating even more of a display. Of the many other cyclamen species, C. purpurascens, formerly called C. europium, flowering in July or August, is a possibility. I've yet to test my greenhouse plants outdoors in winter, but they are said to be perfectly hardy. Flowers are usually deep pink with evergreen, heart shaped foliage. Success breeds confidence, so if all goes well for you, the realm of cyclamen could become your next plant obsession! Where To See Cyclamen In Bloom Leonard J. Buck Garden, Far Hills, NJ www.somersetcountyparks.org Cornell Plantations, Ithaca, NY www.plantations.cornell.edu Stonecrop Gardens; Cold Spring, NY www.stonecrop.org Chanticleer Gardens, Wayne, PA www.chanticleer.org Where To Purchase Cyclamen Seed Parks Seeds www.parkseed.com Thompson & Morgan www.thompson-morgan.com North American Rock Garden Society www.nargs.org (become a member to use their Seed Exchange) Chiltern Seeds, England www.directory.co.uk/chiltern seeds Where To Purchase Potted Cyclamen Plants Plant Delights Garden, Juniper Level, NC, www.plantdelights.com Roslyn Nursery, Dix Hills, NY, www.roslynnursery.com Sunlight Gardens, East Tennessee, www.sunlightgardens.com Sunshine Farms and Gardens, Renick, West Virginia, www.sunfarm.com Newbury Perennial Gardens, Byfield, MA, www.newburyperennialgardens.com ** All photos courtesy of Martin Weinberg unless otherwise noted |
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