Cyclamen hederifolium

The pink flowers clash a bit with the yellow of the daffodils, but they were
not supposed to be in in flower at the same time!

I like good value plants. What do I mean by that? you may well ask. Well, these are easy plants to find (even your supermarket may well sell them, in season), are relatively cheap, look fabulous, flower for a long time, and do not require a vast amount of care. Cyclamen hederifolium (the ivy leafed cyclamen) tick the boxes on all the above counts. Strictly speaking these are Autumn flowering plants, which die back into dormancy over the Spring/Summer period. They belong to the Primula family, but form a branch which are significantly different to our British garden primulas. Firstly they hail from the Mediterranean area, and are found on the edges of woodland, scrub, and coastal rocky areas.
The alternative name is Cyclamen neapolitanum, signifying that it can be found around the sun-drenched areas around Naples in Italy. A far cry from the damp Cumbrian coastline of England!

The white form of Cyclamen hederifolium. Though the quality of the picture is not great, but you can see the beautiful white veining on the leaves. Plant them where you can appreciate their full beauty.

As can be deduced from its botanical name, Cyclamen hederifolium has beautiful foliage. The ivy shaped leaves are usually marked with white, cream or silver fine veining. The nodding flowers are held three to four inches (10 cms) above the leaves, and can be found in shades of white, pink, and magenta. Allegedly, some have a delicate scent, but I have yet to detect it. They form neat, but slowly expanding, little clumps, which appear in the late summer. Flowering is supposed to be in Autumn and early winter, and this is where I have to declare my fascination with my own garden specimens. I bought them, in flower, in October 2019, from two local supermarkets. Most of them are still in flower (April 2020), though a few are starting to show signs of dormancy. They are planted on the edge of a rockery that has been taken over by Conifers (we inherited them with the house) in fairly heavy clay soil. They have had no special treatment after planting, and have flowered their little hearts out, ever since. I also planted some in the front wall, and these have performed nearly as well as the ones in the rockery.
So why have they done so well here, whereas they had one short blaze of glory in my former garden, and were never to be seen again?. I think the answer must be in the growing conditions - here they are in full sun most of the day, and though the soil is clay, it is fairly well drained. So will they come up again in late summer? I will let you know, then,
Happy gardening!