Cyclamen 2011/12

The ruffled leaf edges on Tilebarn Jan is especially pleasing,
not to mention the flower itself!

Yes, it is pretty.

I just forgot that I have six hardy cyclamen bulbs in my backyard that I dug up last Spring! I better run and plant them in the ground!!!!

I planted two Cyclamen hederifolium (neapolitanum) in my Garden back in the Spring of 2010.  They were from a Dutch Bulb company.  I was surprised to find them for sale at Menard's.  I did not really believe they would survive the winter in Schaumburg, IL.  I planted them in the best spot I had available at time.  This location is in full sun with only meager shade from a scrawny Rhododendron.  At least one survived the winter and squirrels.  It only had a few leaves this Spring.  I was very surprized when I came home from a trip to find the flowers that are shown in the attached photo.  It appears they really can survive our cold winters.  The only protection it received was an inch of peat moss and the leaves I used to mulch the Rhododendron.

A note about the photo.  The flowers had much more pink/lavender than appears in the photo.

James 

It does amaze me, all the neglect that cyclamen can put up with.  I had some seedlings given to me in a tiny pot that I had forgotten all about :'(.  Almost any other plant would have kicked the bucket, but not these!  :)

Cyclamen purpurascens and C. hederifolium are practically the only species that have been hardy for us in Minnesota. This information comes from our resident expert in the genus, who grows these species on a wooded east facing slope in zone 3!

Thanks for the hardiness information.  Maybe I'll give Cyclamen purpurascens a try.  This would give me a Cyclamen that flowers in Summer.

Has anyone tried growing Cyclamen coum at the Northern limit of its hardiness range.  It would be nice to have some Spring flowering Cyclamens.

James

C. purpurascens is definitely the hardier of the two for us.  Hederifolium sometimes doesn't make it.  People have tried coum up here, but it has never been reliable.  I would imagine though, that somewhere there is a hardy enough provenance.

For some years I've grown the all green-leaved form of C. purpurescens, but then I got hold of some seed and plants of variable fancy-leaved types.  Now they are seedling in together, providing a long season of flowers all summer, but well worth growing and enjoyable now in the fall months with beautifully marked foliage, and a few entirely silvery-white leaves forms.  They are most forgiving of drought, heat, cold, and adverse conditions in general... a fine species for New England gardens.

In the photo, some all-green types at the top, but most the others are beautifully veined and marked.  The variegated leaf violets came in with the green-leaved plants given to me years ago, and I allow it to intermingled with the Cyclamen.

Wow, Mark - what a display!  :o

A colony of varied leaf forms (and flowers, too)  is always more interesting than any single type, in my opinion, no matter how good the one type is.  Knowing at least some of all the plants you grow, Mark, I think you'll agree.  ;D

Maybe I've said it before but I find that seedlings are much hardier than corms bought except from specislists. Fast grown Dutch corms seldom survive but own grown do ;D

James wrote:

Thanks for the hardiness information.  Maybe I'll give Cyclamen purpurascens a try.  This would give me a Cyclamen that flowers in Summer.

Has anyone tried growing Cyclamen coum at the Northern limit of its hardiness range.  It would be nice to have some Spring flowering Cyclamens.

James

I've had C. coum ssp. coum growing & seeding in my gardens here in Vermont, zone 4 for the past 3 years. They're growing in a moist, rich soil with a gravel mulch in afternoon sun and are very happy! My C. purpurescens are in a much dryer soil in morning sun and are growing away but no self-sowing...yet.

That could be very true in your zone 4, Amy.  The zone 4 climate of Vermont/New Hampshire/Maine is very different from the zone 4 of Minnesota.

McDonough wrote:

In the photo, some all-green types at the top, but most the others are beautifully veined and marked.  The variegated leaf violets came in with the green-leaved plants given to me years ago, and I allow it to intermingled with the Cyclamen.

McMark,

Not sure whether it is of interest to you or not but the violet is Viola grypoceras var exilis, apparently with a common name of 'Cyclamen Leaf Violet'.  Thought you might like to know that it is in good company.  I used to grow this violet years ago then it died out, but about 3 years ago I received it in a pot of Trillium luteum from a friend of mine and it has appeared in a few nearby pots since.  The leaves are wonderful, and so reminiscent of Cyclamen at a glance.  The look great with your Cyclamen clump. 8)

Sorry this is so late compared to your photo posting.  Only just getting up here now after a few months of turmoil at home. :rolleyes:  This happened to be the first topic I've opened. 8)

Paul wrote:

McMark,

Not sure whether it is of interest to you or not but the violet is Viola grypoceras var exilis, apparently with a common name of 'Cyclamen Leaf Violet'.  Thought you might like to know that it is in good company.  I used to grow this violet years ago then it died out, but about 3 years ago I received it in a pot of Trillium luteum from a friend of mine and it has appeared in a few nearby pots since. The leaves are wonderful, and so reminiscent of Cyclamen at a glance.  The look great with your Cyclamen clump. 8)

Thanks Paul.  I didn't say much about the Violet ID in my post about Cyclamen purpurescens, as it's confusing.  So I refreshed my memory on it... I have believed the variegated violet to be a variegated form of V. koreana, most often under the name 'Syletta' or 'Sylettas'.  Go to google images and you'll see that it matches my plant.  Then go do the same google image search for Viola grypoceras var exilis, and one pretty much sees the same plant... so I wonder if they're synonyms. 

So I dig deeper, The Flora of China, IPNI.ORG, The Plant List, and Tropicos do not list Viola grypoceras var. exilis... the only varieties listed among those four definitive resources is V. grypoceras var. barbata, var. pubescens (both synonyms of the species), and var. ripensis (status unknown to me).  Flora of China gives a clue under the description for V. grypoceras "One of us [the authors of Flora of China -Ohba] prefers to treat plants with stems nearly procumbent or creeping as Viola grypoceras var. exilis (Miquel) Nakai".

There is no published name V. "koreana", although there is the name V. coreana... sometimes plants named "coreana" are misspelled "koreana".  Only The Plant List has an entry: "Viola coreana Boissieu is an unresolved name".

Found a nursery site that lists V. coreana as a synonym of V. grypoceras:
http://www.rareplants.de/shop/product.asp?P_ID=11669

Turned to my large volume Flora of Japan by Ohwi, where more varieties of V. grypoceras are listed, var. rhizomata, ...aha! found var. exilis, for which the given synonyms are V. sylvestris var. exilis and V. coreana... the synonymy connection made.  To boot, there is var. imberbis and var. hichitoana.

So, it would seem that grypoceras var. exilis is most likely correct, but this plant is widely available under both grypoceras var. exilis and koreana (sic), and one sees the combination grypoceras 'Syletta' and koreana 'Syletta' used interchangeably. The type species is, I'm sure, green leaved, and the beautiful silver marble-leaf form must be a sport of it. In spring it is adorable in flower, tiny tiny tiny with flowers on stems nearly at ground level.

Phew... that was easy ;)  I will probably move this message to it's own topic on violets, although it can be apropos in this topic, as this variegated violet is known as the "cyclamen leaf violet". ;)

McMark,

And here I was hoping that I might be filling in a name that you didn't know.  :-[  I had no idea it was under so many names.  Was just trying to help.  Sorry.

Paul wrote:

McMark,

And here I was hoping that I might be filling in a name that you didn't know.  :-[  I had no idea it was under so many names.  Was just trying to help.  Sorry.

No need to be sorry at all, your suggestion was right on target and helpful... I just like to look into such identifications then share the results on the forum.

I've always "known" of the hazy layman taxonomy of that viola, and people like to call it labradorica too (wrong!).  So I have always shied away from the binomial because of the confusion.  I really do appreciate you straightening it out, Mark.  Your lengthy search was actually enjoyable to read and easy to follow.  Thanks.