Cyclamen bloom sequence
Mary Sue Ittner (Fri, 14 Mar 2008 07:57:03 PDT)

Hi,

Recently Jim Waddick asked about the Cyclamen bloom sequence. I don't think
he got a very complete response and I'm not sure that my experience in
Northern California will be very useful since our climates are so
different. But I finally had time to look on my data base to see when the
ones I grow bloom. I first got interested in this genus when I saw all the
lovely ones Bill Dijk had in New Zealand. I'd ordered some from a mail
order source before that, but the ones and planted out were not very
spectacular.

Bill gave me seed and I've been acquiring seed from the NARGS exchange and
others and now grow a number of different species. When I look on my data
base I see that some species bloom the same time every year and others
start earlier or later and some years I'll have plants that bloom much
longer than you'd expect them to do and at a different time as well. A lot
of the books I have suggest you identify them by when they bloom, but I
don't think that would always work. I had a Cyclamen coum (since rotted)
bloom one year from August to January and it's supposed to be a winter
bloomer. My first attempts to grow these in the ground weren't very
successful, but John Lonsdale told me I should be able to grow them in the
ground where I live so as they get bigger and growing them in containers
gets harder I've been planting them out and am happy to report they are
coming back and blooming. They probably still bloom better for me in
containers which no doubt has something to do with my low nutrient soil and
tendency not to fertilize, but I can still enjoy the leaves. My list below
shows times they have bloomed (some years starting earlier and some years
ending earlier).

Cyclamen hederifolium - July to Nov
Cyclamen intaminatum - Jul to, but usually Sep to Oct
Cyclamen africanum - Aug to Oct
Cyclamen cilicum - Aug to Jan (but not always that long)
Cyclamen graecum - Sep to Nov
Cyclamen mirable - Sep to Oct
Cyclamen elegans - Oct to Dec
Cyclamen coum - has bloomed Aug, Sep on but usually Dec-Mar
Cyclamen pseuibericum - Jan-Mar
Cyclamen repandum - Jan-May, but sometimes doesn't come up until Feb or Mar
Cyclamen balearicum - Mar-May
Cyclamen creticum - Mar- May

Then there is Cyclamen purpurescens that someone said had bloomed year
round. It's evergreen and mine bloom off and on, not continuously, but I
have had blooms between Jun-Dec

This is a genus where you can have a species in bloom most of the year.

Mary Sue