Fall bloom
Rodger Whitlock (Fri, 12 Sep 2003 12:36:25 PDT)
On 9 Sep 03 at 10:15, Jane McGary wrote:
After an unusually hot, dry summer... Cyclamen hederifolium looks
a bit unhappy; it is flowering as usual, but the flowers are not as
"plump" as I'd expect. The first rain since the beginning of July
fell yesterday, though, so I hope they will fatten up...
One of the late, great gardeners of Vancouver Island, Dorothy Shaw,
used to have legnedary plantings of cyclamen at her place on
Quamichan Lake. I have been told by her one-time gardener that it was
her practice to soak the cyclamen beds once a month during the
summer.
I have a funny idea that while cyclamen will survive drought, they
prefer to have a certain degree of moisture present in the soil.
She also top dressed her cyclamen with generous amounts of farm
manure.
--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Maritime Zone 8, a cool Mediterranean climate
on beautiful Vancouver Island