[Alice]

How hardy are Cyclamen confusum and Cyclamen hederifolium subsp. crassifolium? Would they cope with a SE English climate?

[Alisdair]

They should be hardy enough with the present SE England climate, Alice. Several people in SE England do have them out of doors (including Kit Grey-Wilson who first separated confusum from ordinary hederifolium - he gardens near Diss in Norfolk). As I think you know Helena here at our house in East Sussex has a wholesale cyclamen nursery raising only hederifolium and coum from seed. Quite a few of her plants have that tetraploid confusum/crassifolium soft look but have been untouched down to -8C. The only thing is that they do tend to flower a bit later than ordinary hederifolium - one small population we have in our Greek garden was still in flower at the end of January. I think this probably makes them less likely to set seed in English conditions.

[Alice]

Your reply was very useful, Alistair. Thank you.
Cyclamen hederifolium does very well in our English garden. I could even say that it threatens to take over.
I grew many cyclamen plants over winter, including C. confusum and C. hederifolium subsp. crassifolium and wanted to plant some out to join the others but had seen conflicting reviews about their hardiness.
I will now definitely risk it.