Growing Cyclamen
For cheerful indoor blooms this winter, try florist cyclamen, a beautiful blooming house plant.
Florist cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum) are rapidly becoming a favorite house plant both for wintertime blooms and Valentine's Day celebrations. Their heart-shaped leaves and rose, red and white flowers seem like the perfect gift for lovers tired of roses (although who tires of roses?). If you love house plants and are looking for a long-lived plant that blooms in the dull of winter, cyclamen fit the bill.
Growing Cyclamen as House Plants
There are 20 species in the genus Cyclamen, but many are hardy outdoor perennials. Cyclamen persicum are the ones you see lining the benches of garden centers starting in the late fall, blooming with pretty, cheerful and unflagging determination throughout the winter months. According to the Clemson University Cooperative Extension site, florist cyclamen have been a favorite indoor plant since the early 17th century when Western Europeans fell in love with this Mediterranean import. Since their introduction so many centuries ago, hybridizers have presented aficionados with new single, double, fringed, crested and frilled flower forms, but the basic care instructions for all indoor cyclamen remain the same.
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Light requirements: Cyclamen prefer bright, indirect light. A very bright east or west-facing window is best, or a southern exposure with a little bit of filter over the light, such as a curtain over the window or the plant set a few feet from the window itself.
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Water needs: Cyclamen are fussy about their soil moisture, so you do need to pay special attention to their water needs. The soil should be kept evenly moist, never drying out but not so wet that water collects in the saucer under the pot. The fibrous tubers from which the plant grows are prone to rot, so water mature cyclamen plants near the rim of the pot, away from the tuber.
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Temperature: Cyclamen prefer daytime temperatures of approximately 60 to 65 degrees F, with evening temperatures slightly cooler. If temperatures consistently rise about 70 degrees, they may fail to develop buds or drop any existing buds.