Cyclamen kuznetzovii

[johnw]

As mentioned before, after reading Janis Ruksans' account of Cyclamen kuznetzovii and its superior hardiness I have been chasing it down.  Janis mentioned Sahins had it so I wrote to them. Unfortunately all of their stock plants was sold!

As Cyclamen coum is not reliably hardy here I thought this was a very important species to get for Nova Scotia.  We have tried Ellen Hornig's hardy strain of coum without long term success.  I often wonder how she tested for cold hardiness when she is in the snowbelt of New York State.

With luck I got seed from the Cyclamen Society a couple of months ago. Now this seed may be crossed with tender coums but it is better than nothing,  Two seeds of about 30 or more have sprouted in the last month. They are plain green, which is fine by me. Janis mentions his kuznetzovii seed took several years to sprout.

I'm wondering if any forumists are growing kuznetzovii and/or have seen photos of this species' leaves or flowers?

Hopefully pure kuznetzovii will appear in the future.

johnw

[art600]

John

I grew it several years ago - the leaves were plain green.

[Alex]

Janis sells it, this year too - can't you import from him?

I got one last year - leaves are quite drab but there is a pattern. No flowers yet. I haven't challenged it on the hardiness front.

Alex

[Janis Ruksans]

As mentioned before, after reading Janis Ruksans' account of Cyclamen kuznetzovii and its superior hardiness I have been chasing it down.  Janis mentioned Sahins had it so I wrote to them. Unfortunately all of their stock plants was sold!

As Cyclamen coum is not reliably hardy here I thought this was a very important species to get for Nova Scotia.  We have tried Ellen Hornig's hardy strain of coum without long term success.  I often wonder how she tested for cold hardiness when she is in the snowbelt of New York State.

With luck I got seed from the Cyclamen Society a couple of months ago. Now this seed may be crossed with tender coums but it is better than nothing,  Two seeds of about 30 or more have sprouted in the last month. They are plain green, which is fine by me. Janis mentions his kuznetzovii seed took several years to sprout.

I'm wondering if any forumists are growing kuznetzovii and/or have seen photos of this species' leaves or flowers?

Hopefully pure kuznetzovii will appear in the future.

johnw

Picture of kuznetzowii in wild, background Galanthus plicatus.
Janis

[Janis Ruksans]

Sorry, Forget to note that author of pictures is Dmitriy Zubov from Ukraina (he is on third picture here). All maid in nature, in Crimea.
Janis

[johnw]

John

I grew it several years ago - the leaves were plain green.

Arthur  - Thanks for the note. There are no marking yet but we will wait for them.

Alex - We will have to get an permit for Janis and hope a SITES can be issued.

johnw

[johnw]

Sorry, Forget to note that author of pictures is Dmitriy Zubov from Ukraina (he is on third picture here). All maid in nature, in Crimea.
Janis

Janis       - Thanks for the pictures of kuznetzovii, it's a charming one and we hope it will be hardy here.

How long have you grown it outdoors? While your lowest temperature may be lower than here we do get a real winter and it stays cold.

As we have a much wetter climate I wonder if the beech trees keep these kuznetzoviis from becoming too wet. They are fantastic drinkers.

Also good to see G. plicatus growing nearby.  We will write to you about placing an order when the permit arrives.

johnw

[Yuri Pirogov]

I'm not sure Cyclamen kuznetzovii is the most hardy cyclamen. Growing in the beach forests it is protected by mountains from the cold north winds. There are a lot more severe areas on the North macroslope of Caucasus. For example these photos taken 29 Avril while Dmitry's photos - 10 March, almost two month earlier.

[Maggi Young]

Yuri, I do like your photo of Lagonaki...... such drama in the sky.

[ashley]

Thank you Yuri.  It's fascinating to see clear pics of these cyclamen in the wild.  
The coum group is hard to make sense of without the benefit of field observations

[cohan]

this is the first i have heard of this  species, and i'm very interested;
what is the presumed hardiness of this species?
janis, do you have a link to your list?

john, there is a person in calgary (i know she's on alpineL, havent seen her here) growing both coum and hederifolium, i think she'd found them hardy, BUT  not sure how many year's she's had them..
she also mentioned C purpurascens as being even hardier, confirmed on cyclamen society website, but i have not found any source for that species..

[Oron Peri]

Yuri,

As Ashley said, it is great to see this ssp in its natural habitat, great photos!!!
can you give some information about the altitudes?

[Yuri Pirogov]

About 1900 m

[cohan]

About 1900 m

beautiful images, yuri!
any idea on maximim low temperatures in this area?
beavercreek greenhouse in british columbia refers to C hederifolium as hardiest, with success in zone 3 alberta gardens, and considers coum similar....

[johnw]

Yuri - Thanks for the very interesting information, I'll check my records to see if I have any pots of caucasicum growing otherwise I'll search for it.  Still I hope kuznetzovii will work here long term.

cohan - I think Beavercreek pulls some zones out of a hat. I planted hederifolium in the early 1970's and they spread all through the yard, even in the lawn and some even sprouted in front of the house vias ants. Many were almost white but the originals were pink. In 1990 we had a very dry cold snowless winter but it never went below -16c and every hederifolium was killed. About 7 years later one huge leaf  - as big as Rachmaninov's left hand - emerged from the ground in the vicinity of the oldest bulb. Several years ago I decided to dig it up and of course the spade went straight through corm which was even bigger than the leaf.  The half with the newly formed floral stalk survived.

The coums never last more than 2-3 years with me, not even ones from Ellen Hornig in upper NY state and these are reputed to be super hardy selections. She gets lake-effect snow so her Zone 4/5 really doesn't say much about true hardiness.

cilicium and repandum managed maybe a year or so longer than the coums.

As you say europeum, now purpurascens, is rock hardy and have never lost a one save for the ocassional weevil attack.

johnw