Cyclamen

General Information: Cyclamen is one of the most popular of all winter-flowering pot plants and its charm is obvious. Cyclamen display compact growth, beautiful swept-back flowers on short stalks above decorative foliage, which is patterned in silver and green. The blooms are in bright colors or pastel shades, large and eye-catching or small and perfumed. The plant will bloom until May or June.

Light: Make sure your plant receives 1 – 4 hours of bright, direct light during the day (East, West or North exposure). Cool is key, 62° – 68° F.

Water: While your cyclamen is growing and blooming, keep the soil moist but not soggy, watering as soon as the soil surface feels dry. To prevent tuber from rotting, water gently along the sides of the pot or water from below, leaving the plant in a saucer of water for about ½ hour until the moisture rises to the top of the soil. Discard water from the saucer.

Fertilize: Every two or three weeks feed the plant with a liquid houseplant fertilizer such as 15-30-15.

Special Instructions for Recycling Your Cyclamen: Let the plant go dormant. By May or early June your cyclamen will stop blooming and the leaves will turn yellow. Reduce watering, giving only enough to keep soil from going bone-dry. Stop feeding. Place the pot in a shady, out of the way place until midsummer and let the foliage gradually die.

Repot in early August, repot in fresh soil. Prepare a mixture of two parts sterile potting soil, one part peat moss and one part perlite or sharp builders sand. Bury the tuber to half its depth. Firmly pack the soil mix around it. Water well and place in cool, well-lit spot. Shoots should appear soon. Water weekly or more frequently if weather is hot. Bring indoors well before the first frost and begin fertilizing as before. A glorious display of flowers should appear early in the new year.