Survey of Flowers Blooming for the Holidays

Jane McGary janemcgary@earthlink.net
Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:00:18 PST
Ryan in Portland, Oregon, wrote about late fall flowers (I consider 
this late fall, because here 1500 feet above Portland I had the first 
hard frost just last night). In addition to the ubiquitous Cyclamen 
hederifolium, Ryan could also be growing the late fall flowering C. 
mirabile, C. cilicicum, and C. graecum outdoors. C. mirabile seems to 
be susceptible to mold in winter here, though. I'm a big fan of C. 
graecum and would like to see it grown much more on the Pacific 
coast; it is more cold-hardy than usually thought. Greek and Aegean 
populations are more attractive than Turkish ones, I believe, so I 
bought a lot of seeds of the former a couple of years ago and also 
was given some, along with beautiful white forms, by John Lonsdale 
(thank you!).

Also tougher than one would expect, though not fall-blooming, is the 
wild form of C. persicum, which has flowered and self-sown in the 
unheated frames here, having survived 20 degrees F. I see no reason 
not to try it (and C. africanum) outdoors when I move next year to a 
warmer site in the Portland area.

Jane McGary
Northwestern Oregon, USA


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