About Cyclamen
Cyclamen flowers look as though they are flying. The petals sweep sharply backwards from a downturned mouth, held on slender stems above heart-shaped leaves marbled in silver and dark green. It flowers through autumn and winter, when almost nothing else indoors does.
It is also the houseplant most people kill fastest, and always the same way: a warm room and water poured into the middle. Both are avoidable, and a cyclamen kept properly will flower for months and come back the following year.
Primary Meanings
- Sincere Affection: The Victorian meaning
- Resignation: From the downturned, retiring flower
- Lasting Feelings: It flowers for months on end
- Farewell: Traditionally given on parting
Cyclamen Colors and Their Meanings
Magenta Cyclamen
The classic and most vigorous
White Cyclamen
Purity; the most elegant
Pale Pink Cyclamen
Softness and affection
Red Cyclamen
Christmas displays
Silver-Marbled Leaves
The foliage, worth as much as the flowers
Popular Cyclamen Types
Cyclamen persicum
The florist cyclamen, the large indoor type
Mini Cyclamen
Compact, tougher, better for cool windowsills
Cyclamen hederifolium
Hardy autumn species for the garden
Cyclamen coum
Hardy winter species, small and early
Care Instructions
Never Water the Crown
Water from below. Water in the centre rots it.
Cool Room
It wants 10-15C. Central heating kills it.
Twist Spent Stems
Pull with a twist; do not cut them.
Bright Indirect Light
Good light, no direct sun, no radiator.
Best Occasions for Cyclamen
- Winter Displays: Its whole season, indoors and out
- Christmas: The red and white forms
- Gifting a Plant: Months of flowering rather than a week
- Autumn Gardens: The hardy species naturalise under trees
Interesting Cyclamen Facts
- The petals sweep backwards, which is unusual and gives it the flying look
- It grows from a tuber and goes dormant in summer rather than dying
- Watering into the crown is the commonest way people kill it
- Spent flowers should be pulled with a twist, not cut, or the stump rots
- The hardy species flower outdoors in autumn and midwinter
How to Buy Good Cyclamen
Look under the leaves at the centre of the plant. You want a mass of unopened buds sitting low in the crown, because that is the entire future of the plant; a cyclamen in full flower with nothing coming behind it is nearly finished. The leaves should be firm and evenly marbled with no yellowing. Check the crown itself is dry and clean rather than soft or brown, and never buy a plant standing in water or displayed next to a shop door where cold air hits it.
Season, Availability and What Drives the Price
September through February, peaking sharply around Christmas. It is one of the cheapest flowering plants you can buy and one of the longest performing, which is an unusual combination. Prices barely move because supply is enormous. Buy early in the season rather than late: plants sitting in a warm shop through December are usually already stressed by the time they are discounted.
What to Use Instead
Primrose covers the same cool-room niche in late winter at similar cost. Poinsettia is the other Christmas plant, though it wants the warmth cyclamen hates, so they are not interchangeable in placement. Christmas cactus flowers at the same time and lives for decades. Azalea gives a similar mass of colour indoors and is equally fussy about water. For a cool porch or an unheated room specifically, cyclamen is the best of them.
Safety Around Pets and Skin
Cyclamen is toxic to cats and dogs, and the tuber is by far the most dangerous part. It contains saponins, and ingestion causes drooling, vomiting and diarrhoea, with larger amounts of tuber capable of causing heart rhythm problems and seizures. Since the tuber sits at soil level in a pot, a digging pet can reach it easily. Keep pots off the floor and away from animals that dig.
Florist Tips for Cyclamen
Water from below, never the middle
Stand the pot in a saucer of water for twenty minutes, then tip away what is left. Water poured into the crown sits around the tuber and rots it, which is how most cyclamen die.
It wants a cold room
Ten to fifteen degrees is ideal. A centrally heated living room will finish it in weeks. An unheated porch, a cool bedroom or a north-facing windowsill is where it thrives.
Twist off spent flowers, do not cut them
Give the stem a sharp twist and pull it cleanly from the tuber. A cut stump left behind rots and the rot spreads into the crown.
Common Questions About Cyclamen
Why did my cyclamen collapse?
Almost always heat or crown watering. It wants a cool room, ten to fifteen degrees, and water applied from below rather than into the centre. Water sitting around the tuber rots it, and a warm room simply exhausts the plant.
Should I cut or pull off dead cyclamen flowers?
Pull, with a twist. Grip the stem near the base, twist and it comes away cleanly from the tuber. Cutting leaves a stump that rots and the rot can spread into the crown.
Can I keep cyclamen for next year?
Yes. When flowering finishes and the leaves yellow, let it dry off and rest through summer, then start watering again in late summer and it will regrow. They can live for many years this way.