Cyclamen mirabile

[ChrisB]

I have a C. mirabile corm purchased from the AGS stand at Blagdon two years ago.  Last year I got a new sink and planted it in it, but it failed to leaf out or flower.  The sink was specifically for shade loving plants and is thus near my north facing house wall.  I recently dug it up to see if it had died as I knew it might be a bit tender, but it appears to be a solid corm still, but roots look dead and the top looks like it has bumps that will develop.  Does anyone know what my best plan is with it?  Its a decent sized corm and had lovely foliage and flowers when I first got it.  TIA for any help you can offer.

[Maggi Young]

Chris, I do not  think that hardiness is much of an issue with C. mirabile, since it will take a pretty chilly minus 15°  or 16° C  outdoors, as I understand it(and has had worse than that under glass with us a few years ago!)
We mostly have ours under glass because they are so diminutive that it is nicer for us to be able to enjoy them at a higher level than down on the ground in bad weather! We could, of course, put one in a trough, as you have done, but this cyclamen enjoys a very woodsy soil, preferably with good rotted pine needles, (I call that, pine duff, I don't know if that's the correct term) and we don't tend to have that type of soil in our troughs. Perhaps it was the lack of this woodsy soil that made your plant sulk?

I have just got a couple of the "Tilebarn" forms of mirabile from the super collection of Cyclamen that have been given to the Aberdeen Group by one of our members, for sale for group funds. I am looking forward to enjoying them as much as their previous owner! If you are reading this, thank you, Evelyn!

[ChrisB]

Thanks Maggi,  I have a large pine tree in the garden so consequently I do have a patch where I can gather some of the pine needle duff you speak of, I'll use that and see what happens in a pot before putting it back into the sink.