Growing Guide
 
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Cyclamen, Hardy

Spring-Flowering Bulb

Cyclamen coum
Primulaceae Family

With glossy, heart-shaped leaves marked with silver, and dainty but showy flowers, Hardy Cyclamen is an early-spring bloomer. Hardy to Zone 5, its flowers are nearly identical to those found on nonhardy florist's cyclamens.

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Site Characteristics
Sunlight:
  • part shade

Soil conditions:

  • requires well-drained soil
Prefers rich, moist but well-drained soil

Hardiness zones:

  • 5 to 9
Plant Traits

Lifecycle: perennial

Ease-of-care: easy

Height: 0.25 to 0.5 feet

Spread: 0.25 to 0.5 feet

Bloom time: early spring

Flower color:

  • red
  • violet
  • white
  • pink

Blooms range from white to rosy red, and have red-marked, white-rimmed mouths.

Foliage color:

  • dark green
  • variegated

Leaves may have silver markings depending on variety.

Foliage texture: medium

Leaves are heart shaped.

Shape: cushion, mound or clump

Leaves grow in the fall and overwinter. Flowers bloom in late winter and early spring, and then both foliage and flowers die back.

Shape in flower: flower stalks with upright spikes

Special Considerations
Special characteristics:
  • non-aggressive
  • non-invasive
  • not native to North America - Native to Asia Minor and Southeastern Europe
Growing Information
How to plant:

Propagate by seed, division or separation - Soak seeds for 12 hours before planting. Sow the seeds in late spring for next year's flowering.

Plant tubers (actually enlarged hypocotyls) in late summer or early fall.

Germination temperature: 45 F to 55 F

Maintenance and care:
Plant the tubers 2" beneath the soil surface in late summer or early fall. Cover the plants with mulch for overwintering.

More growing information: How to Grow Bulbs

Pests:
Spider mites
Vine weevil
Cyclamen mite
Diseases:
Gray mold
Varieties
'Album': white blooms with deep red mouths.

ssp. caucasicum:pink/violet blooms with silver-marked, scallop-margined leaves. Syn.: Cyclamen abchasicum, Cyclamencaucasicum.

'Pewter Group': blooms ranging in color from pink to rosy red and violet. Leaves very heavily marked with silver.