Surprise in the seed department, and a near freebie comes into good form

Jim McKenney jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com
Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:49:43 PST
Yes, Robin, the smaller florist’s cyclamen often have great scent. Last year
I sniffed around a group in a local store and noticed that the best
fragrance, to my sensibilities at least, seemed to be from the
white-flowered plants. The scent of the other colors varied from vaguely
pleasant to aggressively disagreeable. 

 

I’ve never had wild Cyclamen persicum, but as you mention the scent must be
great – so many people have mentioned this, yet the commercial breeders
abandoned this quality long ago. 

 

How long does it take to raise these commercial forms from seed to bloom? 

 

Cyclamen persicum really isn’t suitable as a house plant for us – our houses
are much too warm and dry during the winter. I have trouble keeping them
going even in a basement window where it is cooler but probably not cool
enough. And they are too big to fit comfortably into my protected cold
frame; I tried this last year but the one plant occupied over a square foot
of space  - much too much for any one plant in that frame. 

 

How much difference in size is there between the florist’s cyclamen and the
wild form of Cyclamen persicum? These wild forms sound intriguing. 

 

In your signature were you indicating that it got down to 12 degrees F in
your area? 

 

Jim McKenney

jimmckenney@jimmckenney.com

Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, 39.03871º North, 77.09829º West, USDA zone
7

My Virtual Maryland Garden http://www.jimmckenney.com/

BLOG! http://mcwort.blogspot.com/

 

Webmaster Potomac Valley Chapter, NARGS 

Editor PVC Bulletin http://www.pvcnargs.org/ 

 

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