Drop Dead Gorgeous

Cyclamen are gorgeous plants which flower for ages during the cooler months. They make a fantastic house plant and will also thrive in a shady part of the garden or in a pot. The flowers last and last and some smell delicious. They are easy care, but some of us have a problem with them dropping dead. Can’t we just have the gorgeous bit?
Why do they die? Do they somehow develop a serious disease as soon as we take them home? Of course not; they die because we can’t accept the fact that Cyclamen love the cold.
We buy a beautiful new Cyclamen and what do we do? We take it into our warm house and sit it on the dining table. Now, this is like placing a polar bear in the desert and expecting it to be comfortable. We like it warm but cyclamen don’t. It would be much happier in the fridge than baking away in our heated home. The poor Cyclamen shudders from the shock and starts to collapse. This looks like wilting so we water it, and the poor plant rots away and dies. “Oh, I can’t grow these stupid things’ you shriek, and you are put off Cyclamen for life. Don’t be, because they’re easy.
The secret to Cyclamen success is cool and dryish. That’s it. You are now a Cyclamen expert and you can have your plant in flower for most of the year. Most of us have lovely warm and cosy homes, so you need to find a cool spot. Let your Cyclamen live in the cool spot and put it on show to impress the visitors. You can even have your Cyclamen inside during the day, and pop it outside before you go to bed. Alternatively, you can have 2 or 3 cyclamen and rotate them. Put 2 in the shade outside and 1 in the house. Each week choose the best looking one from outside and take it in. If you want everyone to think you’re brilliant at cyclamen care choose 3 the same colour. Otherwise choose a mixture of colours and have a change.
When you water your Cyclamen give it a good soaking. Stand the plant in a bucket of water or the laundry tub and let it drink from the bottom. Add some liquid fertilizer once a month to the water and they will flower their little heads off. They are gorgeous and rewarding; you’ve just got to stop loving them to death.