Cyclamen 2008

[ChrisB]

Thanks Maggi, it all makes sense now.... I'm hopeless at acronyms...

[Joakim B]

Diane and Ashley Thanks for the help
Sorry for the late reply but thanks a lot for the identification. All plants shown are grown in open ground in Southern Sweden under a beach hedge with some pine branches to protect from being eaten by Bambi during winter.
I only had limited batteries so I did not take as many photos as I would have liked nor did I take them disciplined with flower first and then foliage so that made "putting it together harder". All pictures where taken a week before posting.

I have truly enjoyed the nice plants seen here.

I think I will do some indirect breeding in Portugal with persicum by buying nice ones and have them close and let the bees do there bit. They are not as abundant here in Portugal as in Sweden and even Hungary so I will have to have my eyes more open. Maybe they are less popular amongst the trade since they survive and people do not need to buy new ones as often as where there are a Winter?

How easy are Cyclamen from seeds (seedlists seeds)? I have only tested once and they did not germinate (probably my fault). My mother have tested by just scattering seeds around where we have the plants but we are not sure the new plants are not seedlings from the plants grown there or new plants.

Kind regards
Joakim

[art600]

Joakim

It is really very easy to grow Cyclamen from seed.  Seed from our seedlist is no problem if you follow some simple steps.
1.Tip the seed into hand-hot water (40C) containing a little washing-up liquid and allow it to soak for 24 hours
2. Decant off the water and repeat the procedure.
3. After the second soak sow immediately.

A higher moisture content is restored to the seed, and any germination inhibitors are removed.

[Joakim B]

Thanks for this great advice Art.
I hope I will have more Cyclamen in a few year with this knowledge.
I bet more people will benefit from this.
Kind regards
Joakim

[Joakim B]

Here is an other one to identify.
This time it is growing in Hungary in open ground (but with some weeds) and it is only one plant so the flower and the foliage belongs to the same flower.
I compared the foliage with the ones in Phillips&Rix of C. purpurascens and it looks similar. The problem is that the book does not have C. hederifolium leaf to campare with.
Is it C. purpurascens?
Phillips&Rix describes Auricle "as small ear-like projections on the leaf base." This does not help me since I compared C. purpurascens in the book with C. graecum and I only saw the dented edges of C. graecum as a difference and one of the C. purpurascens also had this so I do not get the thing.
So none of my previous plants were C. cilicum or C. mirabile? Can they be ruled out due to temperature (winter minimums are -10C) or was the flowers wrong? I know that the way to separate C. africanum with C. hederifolium is to plant it outside and if it dies it was C. africanum. That might not be the case in Portugal was that the hesitation Dianne? Sorry to come with even more questiones but I am trying to understand and I am not always as fast as I would have wanted.

By the way does the following generations (of C. persicum) get less and less silvery foliage? There does not seem to be any "green" ones around to dilute it with, so to say, so it is not as simple as that.

Kind regards
Joakim

[ashley]

You're right Joakim; this is purpurascens. 
It can be distinguished from hederifolium by its lack of auricles but also having 'beaded' leaf edges (among other differences).

[Joakim B]

Ashley thanks for the confirmation
Ashley or anyone can You explain auricles I do not understand this and does not get it from the dictionaries or ear-shaped or ear-lobed shaped part?
Kind regards
Joakim

[David Nicholson]

As well as being a trainee Croconut I am very much a beginner as far as Cyclamen are concerned. Here are a few pictures of a plant I can claim no credit for as I bought it last Tuesday from the plant stall at my AGS local group meeting because it took my breath away. The plant was grown by a local grower, Mike Quest, who I know 'lurks' on the Forum, so if you read this Mike it's time you joined us.

I looked up Cyclamen cyprium 'E. S.' in Chris  Grey Wilson's book 'Cyclamen' and here i a precised version of what he had to say about it.
" Elizabeth Strangman passed on some beautifully marked leaf forms of Cyclamen cyprium to Peter Moore at Tilebarn Nursery. E.S. stands for Elizabeth Strangman as might be expected, although it has been put about, quite wrongly, that it stands for 'Extra Silvery'. The flowers are identical with the more normal leaf forms. The original plants were selected by Hilda Davenport Jones in the 1960's and were passed by Ray Cobb to Elizabeth Strangman at Washfield Nurseries in Sussex. Elizabeth in turn passed them to Peter Moore. Similar plants formerly offered by Potterton and martin, may share the same origin"

Enjoy.

[mark smyth]

Very nice. I have never been able to get plants through the winter and there will not be third time lucky

[Tony Willis]

David
 a very nice purchase.

I spoke to Ray a few days ago and he has just lost his last plant and I am going to replace it for him when I see him next month. He gace me seedlings from seed of his plants some years ago and I have raised several generations.It is very variable and it is essential to weed out what might be considered poor specimens.
I sent a lot of seed of it to the AGS seed exchange a few days ago.

[snowdropman]

" Elizabeth Strangman passed on some beautifully marked leaf forms of Cyclamen cyprium to Peter Moore at Tilebarn Nursery. E.S. stands for Elizabeth Strangman as might be expected, although it has been put about, quite wrongly, that it stands for 'Extra Silvery'.

David - lovely leaf form - thanks for showing. For what it is worth, I can certainly confirm that, when she closed down Washfield Nursery, Elizabeth Strangman passed several very nice forms of cyclamen & some galanthus (including a particularly fine form of g. ikariae, which is one of my favourite snowdrops) to Peter Moore at Tilebarn Nursery.

By the way, if you have not bought from Peter, I can thoroughly recommend him - he grows an extensive range of cyclamen, sells by Mail Order & his plants are always in superb condition.

[David Nicholson]

Chris, thanks for the buying tip.

[Gerry Webster]

Can I second Chris's endorsement of Tilebarn Nursery? If you are able, do pay a visit for not only does Peter Moore  grow a wide range of cyclamen he also has an extensive range of dwarf bulbs only available to visitors. It is one of the best nurseries I know.

[art600]

My Crocus banaticus and mathewii came from Tilebarn Nursery.   

[Lesley Cox]

By the way, if you have not bought from Peter, I can thoroughly recommend him - he grows an extensive range of cyclamen, sells by Mail Order & his plants are always in superb condition.

And he is just about the ONLY UK nurseryman prepared to export to this part of the world now. The cyclamen I've had from him have all been great, not a single loss even with the season turn around. C. cyprium 'ES' was one.