If you’re gifted with a cyclamen this holiday season or happen to pick one of these beauties up, it’s good to know that you can keep the plant blooming indoors throughout the holiday season and even beyond. These perennial flowering plants bloom throughout the winter months and with some care do well indoors.
Technically tubers, like potatoes, cyclamen create distinctive flowers often described as resembling shooting stars. Blooms come in a variety of vibrant colors, including red, white, pink, salmon, lavender and yellow. The heart-shaped, gray-green leaves are often variegated with silvery, mottled patterns.
About 20 species of cyclamen exist, but Cyclamen persicum is the most widely available and tends to grow well indoors. The plant is native to mountainous areas of the Mediterranean, as well as Europe, North Africa and western Asia. Horticulturists believe that the Persians first cultivated the plant 3,000 years ago. The word cyclamen comes from Greek, and the plant was used for medicinal purposes by the Greek military and surgeons.
Cyclamen (Julie Bawden-Davis)Follow these tips and you can enjoy cyclamen blooming in your indoor garden this winter.
Keep things cool. Cyclamen thrive in cool temperatures, so keep them out of warm areas of the home, such as near heating ducts or fireplaces. The cooler the better—they prefer between 55 and 65 degrees Fahrenheit.
Provide bright light. Place cyclamen in an unobstructed eastern, southern or western window. Close to the window is preferable, as it will provide the most light and tend to be cooler there.
Watch watering. The fastest way to kill cyclamen is to overwater, which will lead to the tubers rotting and the plants dying. Allow the top two inches of soil to dry out in between watering. The soil should be rich, yet well-draining.
Fertilize. Feed cyclamen once a month with an organic fertilizer designed for flowering plants.
Encourage re-blooming. When cyclamen stops flowering in spring, taper off watering until the foliage yellows. When the leaves die back, the plant is dormant. Stop watering and place the pot in a cool, dim location for the next two to three months, such as an unheated garage or shed.
In midsummer, move the cyclamen pot to a shaded location outdoors and resume watering and fertilizing. When temperatures dip near freezing in the fall, bring the plant indoors. It should bud up and bloom by mid-winter.
Julie Bawden-Davis is a garden writer and master gardener, who since 1985 has written for publications such as Organic Gardening, Wildflower, Better Homes and Gardens and The Los Angeles Times. She is the author of seven books, including Reader’s Digest Flower Gardening, Fairy Gardening, The Strawberry Story, and Indoor Gardening the Organic Way, and is the founder of HealthyHouseplants.com.
