| Author |
Message |
    
Cycnich
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 08:27 am EST : |   |
A typical damp new years day here in England but cyclamen leaves often look really good after rain, it really makes the patterns stand out. I built this patio area after we had a conservatory erected about 8 years ago. It consists of 20mm gravel laid over a membrane with stepping stones laid as paths. After a few specimen plants were planted there was lots of space where we grow pot plants for the summer, fushias and geraniums mainly. I thought I might try a few spare cyclamen where there were gaps. Well they really took off and now there are hundreds they seed everywhere and with no nutrients other than the leaves that blow there and decompose into the gravel. There are now so many that I really should thin them out and some really good leaf forms have appeared. The pictures are all hederifolium except the last which is var confusum. I have now started to introduce other species like coum, cilicium and psuedibericum and they are looking ok.
Cycnich
- west sussex,
Zone "8"
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Galanthophile
 Supporting Member
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 09:36 am EST : | |
Wow they have been successful - they look very good. I have a similar gravelled area with sempervivums but maybe I'll try a few cyclamen..!
Galanthophile
- Ann (Northern England),
Zone "8"
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Terryk
Supporting Member
My Weather
My Garden
My Time
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 10:28 am EST : | |
What a great success you have had!
Pat, can you give a bit more info-did you place just the tuber into the gravel or did you take the pot they were growing in and add the soil and tuber to the gravel area?
I have heard not to mix the coum with the hederifolium. Over time will the coum do ok? I would love to mix them, that is if I ever had success with them outdoors!
Terryk
- NY,
Zone "6"
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Cycnich
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 11:04 am EST : | |
Yes the tubers were bare rooted and placed on top of the membrane and the gravel replaced, then watered and left alone. The seedlings must find their own level I guess. The other species have been planted far enough away at the moment from the hederifolium so as not to conflict but time will tell on this.
Cycnich
- west sussex,
Zone "8"
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Dee_b
Supporting Member
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 12:51 pm EST : | |
Lovely C. hederifolium Pat. I've never been a lover of hederifolium, but those patterns are great. The ones in my garden have been in there years and look like cabbage leaves!
I really like the one that's snuggled up to the Phormium ( it looks like a Phormium) and the one next to that..it looks like a pseudibericum.
Is it in a sunny spot? I too may try it in my garden. Thank you for the idea.
Dee_b
- West Midlands,
Zone "7"
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Cycnich
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 01:03 pm EST : | |
I must admit I do choose some reasonable leaf forms to start with but the seedlings have exceeded my expectations, the psuedibericum are a few metres away and are not so vigourous but if they seed around I will be very happy.
Cycnich
- west sussex,
Zone "8"
|
Cycnich
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 01:07 pm EST : | |
The original plants were planted in the shade of the phormium but the seedlings have spread to even the hottest spots, it does not seem to make any difference , they seem very happy.
Cycnich
- west sussex,
Zone "8"
|
Dee_b
Supporting Member
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 01:50 pm EST : | |
Well yes, they certainly look happy. I expect the gravel deter the slugs and snails too!
I've just spotted another I like..the confusum at the top of the photo, plain leaf with the creamy/pale leaf centre.
I've never been able to keep confusum in the garden, they get killed of by any frost. Do you have any others in the garden....that aren't in the gravel?
Dee_b
- West Midlands,
Zone "7"
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Cycnich
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 01:56 pm EST : | |
These plants are from seed I collected myself in zakynthos in 1999 and these are the only ones I have in the garden. Would you like some seed from them?. If you do remind me in the summer I have a terrible memory.
Cycnich
- west sussex,
Zone "8"
|
Dee_b
Supporting Member
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 02:09 pm EST : | |
That would be nice Pat....Thank you.
I saw C. hederifolium in Zakynthos, not confusum, but I was never there when seed was ripe...shame.
I did see one plant which I thought was confusum in Skiathos, I posted a picture in another thread, very ordinary leaf though, but again, not when the seed was ripe.
I have recently bought some hederifolium confusum from Ashwoods, lovely plants, but non of the flowers set seed unfortunately.
Dee_b
- West Midlands,
Zone "7"
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Cycnich
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 02:23 pm EST : | |
That is interesting. You may have recieved your journal and read the article on Corfu which mentions material collected by John Grimshaw which is now known to be confusum from Zakynthos. I collected seed 3 sites on the island all of which I am certain are confusum. If you found straight hederifoliun on the island this would be of interest not only to me but to the society as zakynthos could be a subject of a future field study and a possible place where the plants overlap.
Cycnich
- west sussex,
Zone "8"
|
Dee_b
Supporting Member
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 02:39 pm EST : | |
Oo-er, I feel a bit put on the spot now.
Zakynthos is the place that first got me interested in cyclamen...my first greek holiday, in the mid 1990's. We stayed in Tsilivi and there was cyclamen hederifolium under trees opposite our apartment. We walked a lot around the area, away from the town, and saw quite a few sites. I've got to admit, it is purely an assumption that they were not hederifolium confusum, as I was not aware of confusum then as I am now...and I can't remember the leaves being a thicker texture. It makes me want to go back there and check again for myself Pat.
Dee_b
- West Midlands,
Zone "7"
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Cycnich
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 03:08 pm EST : | |
Please don't, any info or clues are of value. Bear in mind that confusum from Zakynthos is very different from those from Crete which are the most common in cultivation. The leaves are not so thick and leathery but confusum never the less.
Cycnich
- west sussex,
Zone "8"
|
Tim
Supporting Member
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 03:27 pm EST : | |
Have you got yours then, Pat? I didn't get a copy last year until I mentioned it to Arthur.
I wonder if it has gone missing again; so much for being part of the "inner sanctum" and knowing the secret handshake... tongue firmly in cheek :-)
Tim
- Cambridgeshire,
Zone "7 "
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Dee_b
Supporting Member
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 03:33 pm EST : | |
Well, in my ignorance I thought they were just straight hederifolium...sorry if I've 'confused' you.
If development in that area has continued at the same rate as it did in the few years we holidayed there, chances are the sites would no longer be there.
We stayed on Kefalonia a few times as well, and we never saw any cyclamen there.
Dee_b
- West Midlands,
Zone "7"
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Cycnich
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 03:48 pm EST : | |
Recieved yesterday
They may well have been, the whole hederifolium/confusum thing is still very vague in the ionian islands and requires further research, some plants are so close only DNA and chromosome counts will prove one from another, I know Melvyn has been to Kephalonia and there again these plants are borderline.I am sure there will be places where both occur.
Cycnich
- west sussex,
Zone "8"
|
Dee_b
Supporting Member
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 04:09 pm EST : | |
Tim, do you have any hederifolium confusum growing in the garden, if so, can you tell us the conditions they're grown in.
Dee_b
- West Midlands,
Zone "7"
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Growit
Supporting Member
My Favorite Photo
My Weather
My Time
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 04:44 pm EST : | |
Pat wonderful pictures. That how I like to see cyclamen growing, en-masse in the ground. I actually prefer the leaves to the flowers a lot of the time.
Growit
- Hampshire,
Zone "8/9"
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Johnlonsdale
My Weather
My Garden
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 07:40 pm EST : | |
Hi Pat,
How deep are the tubers please? Do you have any photos showing them in the context of the house/garden - I'd like to get an idea of the 'bigger picture'.
Thanks,
J.
Johnlonsdale
- PA,
Zone "6b"
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Terryk
Supporting Member
My Weather
My Garden
My Time
| | Posted on Tuesday, January 01, 2008 - 09:14 pm EST : | |
Even I received mine yesterday Tim.
Terryk
- NY,
Zone "6"
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