About our Cyclamen
A cyclamen is not just for Christmas! True they make great winterflowering plants for the house and conservatory but they have a multitude of other planting opportunities. At the Plantessential nursery we've been growing and experimenting with these versatile plants for over thirty years so here are a few ideas!

Autumn Bedding, patio containers, window boxes and baskets:
We have selected varieties that have real outdoor flower power. For a profusion of dainty small blooms we offer Cyclamen F1 Metis, for larger plants and blooms Cyclamen F1 Halios and Cyclamen F1 Latinia.

Cyclamen as a perennial for permanent outdoor plantings:
We offer Cyclamen Hederifolium available in shades of pink and pure white.

General info:
During the summer months cyclamen prefer light shade as their attractive marbled foliage is prone to sun scorch. Use an "open" well draining compost for containers ensuring the drainage holes are not blocked. This is crucial, as cyclamen will literally drown if excess water cannot run away.

We advocate and use Perlite to "open" potting mixes, 10-20% by volume works wonders. Our cyclamen are grown from seed and by the time they reach flowering size they will have produced a good corm with young buds and leaves sprouting from the top. When transplanting your plants ensure that this "crown" is kept just proud of the surface, don't bury them too deep or all those lovely little flowerbuds will rot! During hot weather water generously with a gentle spray of large droplets, save the pressure-wash for the car.

From mid September cyclamen can be grown in full sun, though not essential, their bright colours bringing a sparkle to a British autumn. Won't the frost kill them? This is a frequent question and we don't pretend that these varieties are fully winter hardy in the UK. We can say that provided they are planted out late summer/early autumn they will acclimatise as the weather cools and be able to withstand several degrees of frost. Ground frost is usually no problem.

A word of warning, not all cyclamen are grown with an outdoor situation in mind, we grow our plants really hard so they have a fighting chance. That lush specimen at the supermarket might not survive the move. Avoid overcrowding the arrangements so as to appreciate your plants' natural shape plus air movement is a good deterrent to mould and mildews. Watch out for aphids, caterpillars, slugs and snails, as we don't incorporate any persistent pesticides in our potting mixes!

Most Cyclamen are available at our events, please click here for event information.