[John]

Here's another selected plant. Cyclamen graecum subsp. mindleri. This one has distinct short flowers but of some substance which I think is very attractive. Also this hails from one of the highest altitudes for this plant at around 1000m.

[John]

Silver leaf forms of Cyclamen graecum subsp. graecum have been around for quite some time now starting out with 'Glifada' from Brain Mathew. After trying for a quite a few years I have managed to select out a silver leaf version of C. graecum subsp anatolicum. Here's a picture I took today.

[John]

A few years ago I realised that one of my C. graecum had started to rot. Sometimes they develop a depression which holds water and can be the start of a rot. When it was dormant I de-potted it and scraped away the rotten tissue down to clean live tissue, dusted it with sulphur and left it dry for a while. After feeling confident that it had formed a dry new surface I repotted it and eventually it settled down again. You can probably make out that there are a number of short shoots dotted around mainly the upper surface of the tuber. Cyclamen tubers are quite quirky as they develop from a swollen hypocotyl which is the stem of a germinated seedling between the cotyledon leaves and the start of the root. Another example which doesn't go on to being a perennial is the radish. The tuber is at least 15 cm diameter.

[John]

Because of my long time involvement with Crete I have grown C. creticum for many years. My first plant was quite a failure not because it died but because it never did anything. I made the mistake of keeping it dry in summer though cool and for three years it never grew but didn't die. Now I have more success but it is still quite sporadic with some years being far better than others. This plant has rather nice speckled leaves rather like those of C. repandum subsp. peloponnesiacum var. peloponnesiacum Pelops Series (what a name) though a duller grey.

[John]

Here's a shot of the bench today with some of the C. graecum starting to go over now but still looking good.

[Alisdair]

Lovely sight, John, you have them growing really well!

[John]

Thank you Alisdair but I assume yours and Helena's are growing well too?

[Alisdair]

Yes, here's a picture taken earlier this morning of Cyclamen graecum plants growing in our high plastic tunnel here in the UK, in a raised bed; these flowers too are going over now:
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And outside in the open ground here are some Cyclamen hederifolium, also this morning (a bit misty), including a rather dark-flowered one. All these plants have grown from seed just scattered on the open ground:
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In the same general area, but growing in much deeper shade under a Pinus pumila (a handsome Mexican pine with particularly long needles - the plants seed themselves very happily in the duff below the needles), more C. hederifolium. You may be able to pick out the much rounder Cyclamen coum leaves among the hederifolium. The coum actually flower better under this level of shade than the hederifolium, and stand their ground well against the much more vigorous hederifolium - which is never the case if you try to grow the two plants together in more open light:
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[John]

When I sow Cyclamen seeds I have always found it best to sow them fresh and I feel I get much better germination that way. I was discussing this with Oron recently and thought I may as well post this!
I collect the seeds when the pods have split open and may have dried out somewhat but the seeds are still usually sticky to some extent. I then soak them overnight in cold water. They then swell up and I drain them in a sieve and rinse them (which may remove some of the remaining sugary coating) and then pat them dry enough to handle with a paper kitchen towel. They are sown immediately either on the surface and covered with grit or as in this case (I didn't have any grit) covered with a bout 3 mm of compost. Kept moist they come up when temperatures drop. These are C. hederifolium from the dark flowered form I posted earlier.

[John]

Here's a picture of one of the dark flowered strains that a friend bought from the garden centre at Wisley a couple of years ago. So not my plant. I took this last week when on watering duty!

[oron peri]

Down here i do it difrently as i find that the combination of a long period of high temperatures and  humid soil is fatal for the seeds as they get attacked by fungus and just rot quickly.

I collect the seeds when seed pods get soften, just befor they open, than i put them in a plate inside the house until seeds shrink and dry compleetly, about  two weeks time.
Than i put seeds in a paper envelope [not plastic] and keep them in the frig. [not much room left for food...]
When night temperatures reach 17c [around the 3ed week of October] i soak seeds in a glass of water with a drop of washing liquid for 24 hours.
Then i sow in small plastic pots, cover with 1cm of soil and 2cm of small sized grit.
Germinatin is close to 100% and takes about 30 days.

[HansA]

Thanks John and Oron - a bit different I sow cyclamen
I harvest the seed as Oron has described, let them dry about two weeks. Then I sow in summer without soaking them in a gritty soil without hardly any organic material and kept in shadow (an area which is watered regulary also in summer). Seed are on sharp sand in a depth of perhaps 3 cm - 1 cm covered by sand, 2 cm by gritt. Actually they are germinating in good numbers.

[HansA]

Noticed  C. rohlfsianum is missing in this thread so far - so here a few I grow (hope later we will see a double form also ).
First one year old seedlings - the beautiful markings  on the leaves are still absent, but the shape of the leaves are near those of mature plants.
A seedling with green leaf and flowerstalks, and finally some mature plants.

[HansA]

Growing Cyclamen from seed is always a great fun as you never know how the plants will look like.
Here some seedlings of dark flowering C. hederifolium which flower for the first time.

[Alisdair]

That dark purple hederifolium is really unusual, Hans! And thanks for those rohlfsianum pictures - I'd love to go on a plant-wandering trip to the mediterranean-climate Cyrenaica strip of Libya where it comes from one day, and that might become more realistic now.