Cyclamen 2018

[Maggi Young]

Hello Roy, great to hear from you - I think all seed exchanges have  occasional problems with  wrongly named seed - it's one of the reasons why we  started the  Seeds to Scale project in 2009  to help to identify  seed for the exchanges.

http://www.srgc.net/forum/index.php?topic=4426.0

[David Nicholson]

David, the older Cyclamen hederifolium are from a 1998 sowing of C. hed. 'Bowles Apollo'.  I didn't get any with pink on the leaves.  They varied from quite ordinary to well marked to pure silver.

The mirabile are both from a 2001 sowing of 'Tilebarn Nicholas'.  One is much bigger.  The leaves of the smaller one are nearer to 'T. Nicholas'

The graecums were sown in 2003/04 from CSE seed from collected plants.  The white one is older and was bought as a pant.

Cyclamen hederifolium ssp crassifolium is from Cyclamen Society seed ex PN99/151 from Zakythnos.  I got a good germination but one plant was bigger and faster growing than the others.  Its leaves are not very interesting  I sold one or two at a discussion weekend and still have a few.  The others are not yet in leaf.

I usually water from the top.  It is not ideal but I grow so many plants in my greenhouse I find it difficult to give everything ideal conditions.  I might not lose so many young Cyclamen if I was more careful with watering.  It is survival of the fittest

Roma many thanks for taking the time and trouble for such a detailed reply.

[Carolyn]

Carolyn, the Cyclamen mirabile/cilicium was from the 2014/15 seed exchange.  It was definitely labelled niveum.  I was suspicious when I got a flower last year (it was pink) because I usually find Cyclamen mirabile takes a few years to flower.

Roma, thank you for your reply. Here are some of my cyclamen from the seedex. The first photo is also from 2014-15 and is supposed to be from C. mirabile Tilebarn Nicholas.  The plants in the smaller pots may well be mirabile - they have not flowered yet - but I think the one in the larger pot is hederifolium. The flowers looked like hederifolium, with their distinctive auricles and the leaves too. Nice silver colour as well, so I don't mind if it's not mirabile!

[Carolyn]

The second photo is also C mirabile from the 2014-15 seedex. I thought it looked like yours. How do you decide if it's mirabile or cilicium?

[Carolyn]

My final pic is from the 2012-13 seedex and is C. mirabile - but the 2 flowers are quite different - the lobes on the pink one are fairly rounded, the white ones are pointed, a bit like intaminatum but bigger.
Confirmation of ID welcome, please.

[Bart]

Hi Carolyn,
Your post prompted me to go and pick (!) a flower of each species I have flowering today, except purparescens and rohlfsianum, (too precious) and try to make a clear picture of them next to each other. I had a bit of a do with- empty battery on camera, empty battery on phone and eventually no light any more when using Ipad but here are some (bad) pics of all of them next to each other.



Comparison of flowers of Cyclamen species october 2018

and a detail of cilicium, mirabile and intaminatum:



Going by what I grow and what your pictures show, I would say the silver large one is hederifolium without doubt. The smaller silver one probably as well; the reddish one mirabile; the other two too early to tell but maybe cilicium.
second pic: both mirabile because of the flower in the first pic, the leaf in the second pic;

3rd pic: pink one is cilicium, white one cilicium album but not entirely sure.


I am naming them as a bit of an excersise, I may well be wrong because there is so much variation! In an earlier post I expressed my dismay with losing labels and ending up with a lot of nice plants but with no- or doubtful id. In a sense that renders them unfit for the seedex, which is a real pity because some are really nice. I have trouble with the graecum/maritimum split, but I might work it out this season and offer seeds other than 'graecum' next seedex. I hope some other people will have a go at identifying your plants!

[Carolyn]

Thanks, Bart, that's really useful to see all the different flowers side by side. I really appreciate you picking your precious flowers for the photo! I think lots of growers will find this useful.
It's always exciting to see which cyclamen you get from the seedex - I have obviously got a mix of hederifolium and mirabile from one packet. I am hoping, eventually, to try planting some mirabile out in the garden, maybe sheltered under an evergreen shrub. Has anyone had success with this species in the UK?

[stone]

danke bart, das bild ist sehr interessant
ich werde nächstes jahr eines machen mit verschiedenen purpurascensblüten

[Véronique Macrelle]

Yes Bart, this comparison is very interesting, thank you.

what I like is when the cyclamen is naturalized in the garden, they sow by themselves:
 here are my mothers with their little ones.
 However, spontaneous seedlings are very long to arrive at flowering: none yet to flower. I would like more color than white for C hederifolia. are they not too tight?
   I have 3 species so that naturalizes in the garden
 C. hederifolia, C. cilicium, and the coum, which scatters much more and prefers the lawn.

are there other species that would do so in zone 7?

[stone]

natürlich purpurascens ;)veronique

[Carolyn]

Veronique,
You might try intaminatum too - but you need to plant it where you can admire it easily close up, it's very small! I grow it under a beech tree, where it is fairly dry in summer and it has started to seed around. It is mixed in with coum and extends the flowering season. The 2 species co-exist quite happily (so far!).

[Mariette]

what I like is when the cyclamen is naturalized in the garden, they sow by themselves:
 

That´s what I like, too. Here´s a chance seedling of C. hederifolium which chose it´s place well.

[Véronique Macrelle]

as soon as I find Cyclamen intaminatum, I try it too .. small, I like it, even if it is necessary to put on 4 legs: it is one of my ridiculous pace that I take in the garden. I am often teased.
 from seeds, how many years does it take for the first flower?
 the little ones are very long to grow, it seems to me. at the same time I do not use fertilizer because I find that it weakens the plants. (rotting, freezing) and to protect the rhizosphere.

your Cyclamen hederefolium is beautiful between apples! a very nice garden scene

[Carolyn]

as soon as I find Cyclamen intaminatum, I try it too .. small, I like it, even if it is necessary to put on 4 legs: it is one of my ridiculous pace that I take in the garden. I am often teased.
 from seeds, how many years does it take for the first flower?
 the little ones are very long to grow, it seems to me. at the same time I do not use fertilizer because I find that it weakens the plants. (rotting, freezing) and to protect the rhizosphere.

your Cyclamen hederefolium is beautiful between apples! a very nice garden scene

Veronique, you might get some flowers on intaminatum in its second season, but certainly in the third season. I was surprised this week to see a flower bud in a pot of intaminatum which I sowed on 21st Jan 2018. I sowed about 20 seeds (from the Seed Exchange) and by May I had 13 seedlings. I used the "Reading method" for germination, which speeds things up a lot. I am not sure that all the seedlings in this pot are intaminatum - the leaves are quite varied - but the flower bud looks correct so far....

[Mariette]

@ Veronique: Thank You, the leaves of Cyclamen hederifolium are a great asset to my garden in autumn and winter, I think. This is C. hederifolium ´Fairy Rings´with leaves of our sweet cherry.