Cyclamen: How to care for cyclamen and growing tips

By Jason Ingram

Published: Sunday, 26 December 2021 at 12:00 am

Cyclamen are a genus of about 20 tuberous perennials grown for their pink and white flowers that appear at a time when few other plants are flowering. Most cyclamen are found around the Mediterranean and across southern France, Italy, Greece and into Turkey. Cyclamen habitat ranges from deciduous woodlands to scrubland and rocky areas. Some cyclamen species flower from September to December, others from December to March. Most grow to about 10cm tall although established tubers can reach the size of a dinner plate and produce dozens of flowers.

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, Cyclamen persicum, that have been cosseted throughout their lives and will not survive outdoors. They are often sold as houseplants in the colder months; they should flower indoors for around six weeks in a cool, bright room.

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Where to grow cyclamen

In general, hardy cyclamen prefer poor, well-drained soils in full or part shade. 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 cyclamen in pots or raised beds. Cyclamen 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.

Planting cyclamen

An important consideration when growing and caring for 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.

How to propagate cyclamen

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.

Cyclamen 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.