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Hi wahaj,Of the hardy forms of cyclamen that will grow in the garden, the most common are c. hederifolium and c. coum. Two other hardy froms are c. cilicium and c. repandum.C. hederifolium is flowering now, and c. coum will flower January/February. C. cilicium is flowering now, and c. repandum should flower in early spring. I only have the three varieties, hederifolium, coum and cilicium. None of these are scented. Once naturalised they will self seed, and thrive.You say you would prefer a type that doesn't have many leaves. At the moment the c. hederifolium, is flowering, and the leaves are starting to grow. In a week or two, the flowers will have finished and the area will be carpeted by beautiful silver marked, ivy leaved plants. I have interplanted with snowdrops, and in spring the cyclamen leaves give a wonderful background to the snowdrops.As you may have guessed. I'm an absolute sucker for the hardy varieties. They may not be scented, but they are such beautiful, delicate-looking flowers, which in actual fact are as hardy as old boots. If they're in a position they like, they will reward you year after year with their blooms, and foliage.Now, the other lot. The one's that are sold as houseplants. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes. They look lovely in the florists, you buy one, take it home. How do you treat it. On the windowledge, over the radiator in the lounge. The best way to kill the poor thing. They may be frost tender, but they do like cool conditions. The kitchen windowledge is better.Your description of the 'non-bulbous' types - cyclamen does not spring to mind. Begonias have fibrous rooted and bulbous types. All cyclamen, to be a totally pedantic old biddy, are grown from corms. There are no non-bulbous types (to my knowledge).I am in the process of sorting out the corms I have, but I will most likely have some c. hederifolium surplus to requirements if you would like some.I hope the above helps.valmarg
All cyclamen have plenty of leaves, and make good ground cover if they're planted thickly, but some flower before the leaves emerge. So, for instance, hederifolium loses its leaves for a couple of months in the heat of the summer. The flowers start to emerge before the leaves, so you get these little patches of flower without a leaf in sight. I remember seeing them under a dedar in the Oxford Botanic Gardens when I was a kid, and being absolutely fascinated.All of them have bulbs, or more correctly, corms. They're flat disks which sit under the ground out of sight. If they only last one season, they're not getting good treatment, opr maybe they've been forced. Grown correctly, they're long-lived perennials.
and very easy from seed as well, which is a much cheaper way of getting them :)
Calendula mentions growing cyclamen from seed. I've just spent a good half hour looking at cyclamen on the Chiltern Seeds site. They have an enormous range, about 20 varieties. Not all are fully hardy, and c. persicum is the indoor 'florists' variety.Quite a few are scented. I would have to say they are not terribly cheap at anywhere between £2.50 - £3.50-ish for 10 - 15 seeds. Either way, the site - www.chilternseeds.co.uk is worth a look.Oh dear, I might be tempted myself for some of the varieties.valmarg