Our first Baby Cyclamen bulb was obtained unusually. At a country fair in Connecticut, a fellow exhibitor had three plants on display. They were in full bloom with about 30 flowers on each.
At first, he would not part with one for love or money, but finally, my brother persuaded him to trade one for a rare begonia. From this original bulb, we have grown many hundreds of plants.
Now, when frost brightens the air and maple leaves are tinged with red, we look forward with increasing eagerness to the flowers of our Baby Cyclamen, exquisite flowers less than half an inch wide on stems 3” to 4” inches high.
Proper Care For Cyclamen
These delicate pink little gems, native to the low hills of the Mediterranean from southern France to Sicily, are lovely both for house culture and for the rock garden as far north as New Jersey. Many are fragrant. These we isolate to increase our collection of sweet-scented ones.
Unlike the house plant Cyclamen, the first flowers of this variety (Cyclamen neapolitanum) are produced before the foliage appears.
When the buds are well-formed atop the bulb, we apply water and repot in a good, alkaline, humid soil.
The soil mixture is very important. We use equal parts sand, hummus, garden loam, and well-decayed cow manure or peat and add a 4-inch potful of ground limestone to each bushel.
Ideal Conditions For Cyclamen Plants
Plants do best in partial shade in an east or west exposure. They need ample water during the growing season, thrive indoors from 60° to 70° degrees Fahrenheit, and are seldom bothered by insect pests.
Mealybugs, which occasionally appear on the lower leaf stems, may be destroyed with a strong soap suds spray or any good rotenone with pyrethrum-based insecticide.
Ensuring Seed Pollination For Seed Production
Flowers last over six weeks. Then, beautifully mottled leaves mature and completely cover the bulb.
Often, the blooms self-pollinate, but if seed is desired, a touch of the finger from flower to flower when the sun shines on the plant in the morning will assure a good set of seeds. As flowers open, this must be done for three or four days.
Watching seeds mature is fascinating. From the tip of the dried flower, the small seed pod begins to curl back slowly down to the stem to the bulb where it rests, hugging the bulb closely through the long winter.
There, it continues to grow to the size of a large pea. In early spring, the little spring-like stem unfurls, and the hard seed pod opens to scatter seed away from the mother bulb.
Care and Maintenance During The Flowering Season
In early spring, too, the old outside leaves turn yellow. This is the time to withhold water gradually until all leaves have faded. Now, the potted bulb is placed in a cool, airy place until the flower buds come.
To grow this cyclamen from seed is a slow process. Seed is sown as soon as gathered in early spring in a very light mixture of peat, sand, and soil.
It should be covered to twice its depth and always kept moist. The flat in which it is sown should be placed in partial shade at 70° degrees Fahrenheit.
Process of Growing Cyclamen From Seed
Fresh seed germinates in about three weeks. When it does, it is brought into full sun and kept watered for about four months or until little bulblets have formed and have 2 to 3 leaves.
These are then transplanted into small pots and barely covered with the same light soil used for the seed.
In two years, the reward will be two or three flowers. The finest plants, producing as many as 30 flowers or more, are grown from five-year-old bulbs, which should never be planted below the surface of the soil.
44659 by Joy Logee Martin