I bought three cyclamen plants a short while ago, in three different shades of pink, which I am growing in a terracotta bowl on my outdoor marble table. I've never had much luck with cyclamen in the past, drowning them with kindness, and so I have the bowl in a sheltered place near to the east facing wall where it gets partial sun and is protected from heavy rain by the awning overhead, even when the awning is closed). I water the plants from below when they need it. The bowl is standing on a small upturned plant saucer within a large saucer. The idea is that if we do get torrential rain that hopefully the plants will not end up drowning in a saucer full of water. Anyway, I noticed that the flowers attract pollinators. Cyclamen flowers are a little unusual in that the petals fully reflex as they open from the bud. That makes it easy for the bees to access pollen.
 |
| Bumblebee on cyclamen flower |
To keep the cyclamen plants flowering, you need to remove the seedheads. I pick off the stems at the base and I throw away any decaying leaves and fallen flowers. I have always found that cyclamens can rot at the base so easily. The forming seedheads look like they are flower buds but if you look in the image above, at the pink flower bud at the bottom of the image, you can easily see the difference from the image below.
According to the label, which is very limited in terms of information, these cyclamens like partial shade, should be watered moderately, and will withstand temperatures down to minus 3 degrees celsius.
 |
| Cyclamen seedhead forming |
