| Author |
Message |
    
Terryk
| | Posted on Friday, November 12, 2004 - 04:51 pm EST : |   
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Ann, you should try seed. So far my experience is that it is far easier than I had expected. Just that you need some patience. The cyclamen society, if you join has a seed exchange and Seneca Hill Perennials in Oswego, NY sells them at a fairly inexpensive rate. You could have a garden full in a few years if you do what I do when I order-go overboard!
Terryk
- NY,
Zone "6"
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Valia
My Favorite Photo
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| | Posted on Friday, November 12, 2004 - 05:14 pm EST : |
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Oh, oh, Terry, this is getting scary.
Suzymac & Brian & Ton have gotten me started with clematis seed and now I'm thinking about cyclamen.
It's OK when they are seeds, but I don't have good places to keep very many seedlings.
At least cyclamen seedlings shouldn't need a lot of light.
What's the best resource for information about starting cyclamen from seed?
I'll check out the seed available from Seneca Hill Perennials.
Anne, Washington State, Zone 5 |
Terryk
| | Posted on Friday, November 12, 2004 - 07:18 pm EST : |
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Oh what fun, another person hooked! Try the cyclamen society:
www.cyclamen.org
or
www.senecahill.com
Seneca Hill may have sold out on the seeds already but the cyclamen society if you join may have them. They give lots of info, but I got very nervous about the sowing instructions from that website. Tim calmed me down and walked me through it. Do you want me to go through the e-mails Tim sent and put something together. His info was very helpful.
I landed up building a plant stand for them out of pvc pipe and have it in my basement. That was very easy too. The instructions were on T's Flowers web site.
Let me know if you want some instructions posted.
Terryk
- NY,
Zone "6"
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Valia
My Favorite Photo
My Garden Journal
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| | Posted on Friday, November 12, 2004 - 11:45 pm EST : |
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Seneca Hill still has some seeds, but are out of others. Also I checked out Thompson & Morgan and they have quite a variety.
T&M calls germination "challenging" but their instructions look reasonably simple. Though I may need some hand-holding once the process starts.
I'm thinking I do have lots of space for plants if I buy some more lights -- I have space upstairs, I just had been keeping it out of my mind because there's no water up there. But that's hardly an insurmountable problem. I've seen a PVC pipe plant stand -- e-mailed it to DH in fact -- I'd have to adapt it to the space available --- this is starting to get exciting. I have a huge worktable up there that I was using to put the newspaper together. I can attach the lights to the underside of the table and put the plants below --- attach easily removed chicken wire around it to protect the plants from the cat, though she is not bad about plants. That room is kept quite cool in winter. I can germinate the seed in the closet (cooler still) and then nurse the seedlings in the room. All this while still having the use of the worktable in case I ever need to lay out the newspaper there again.
Anne, Washington State, Zone 5 |
Terryk
| | Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 09:13 am EST : |
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Anne, I will send you an e-mail with Tim's instructions. I put it together last night.
You know if you thought you could do without the table, and it is a surface that would not warp, there are some plant watering systems on www.charelysgreenhouse.com that sound interesting. They use capillary mats and one comes with a self watering tank. I am also thinking of the watering situation. Even though I have a sink, with the amount of seedlings I have (3 pots will give me approx. 30 plants and I have 3 trays of seedlings!) I am trying to think of a way to handle the watering situation.
Have you thought of the cyclamen society as a source of seed? If you join, maybe you can still get some interesting seed.
Here's the link:
http://www.cyclamen.org/sources_set.html
If Seneca Hill still has some seed I would order. Ellen's seeds germinated very quickly and even the little seed leaves are very interesting.
Here's a picture of my project to entice you further!
Terryk
- NY,
Zone "6"
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Valia
My Favorite Photo
My Garden Journal
My Weather
My Garden
My Time
| | Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 10:25 am EST : |
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Enticing indeed, Terry. Thanks.
What is that light stuff? -- is all the planting medium like that or just the surface, like they do with clematis seeds?
I'm hesitating about joining the Cyclamen Society because it is in the UK and involves UK ££. I have enough problems dealing with Canadian $$, and I live 20 miles from the border. If they took PayPal ...
DH subscribes to the "Funnel" and a couple of other UK magazines. I suppose he can figure it out for me.
I do need to keep the table top available in the spare room, but It is quite tall, and I have some low greenhouse benches up on Huck Mountain that I could bring down and place beneath it. DH built them for me. They are great, and I've been missing them. If you could see the setup, you would understand what I am thinking. It really is like a light bulb igniting.
Anne, Washington State, Zone 5 |
Terryk
| | Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 06:22 pm EST : |
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Anne, if I read correctly, the cyclamen society will take a US check and here is another web site that converts currency:
http://www.xe.com/ucc/
As to the white stuff-that is the pigeon grit. I sent an e-mail to you with Tim's instructions, hope you could open the wordperfect document. Also I heard from Tim and I hear you have been gifted! If I were you I would hold off joining the cyclamen society and requesting seed till your gift arrives, Tim's a very generous person.
Terryk
- NY,
Zone "6"
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Frostycurls
My Garden Journal
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| | Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 09:15 pm EST : |
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Terry, I'd love to have Tim's instructions for starting cyclamen seeds too. I think I'm also in danger of getting hooked. My hederifolium have naturalized and I find myself spending so much time just admiring their leaf patterns. This fall I bought some C. coum bulbs? Are they called bulbs? I'm looking forward to seeing them in the garden.
Penny Oregon Zone 7 |
Valia
My Favorite Photo
My Garden Journal
My Weather
My Garden
My Time
| | Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 09:33 pm EST : |
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Tim's instructions would be a great first thread for the Cyclamen forum.
Anne, Washington State, Zone 5 |
Terryk
| | Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 11:38 pm EST : |
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Penny and Anne. I have started a new thread here with Tim's instructions.
Terryk
- NY,
Zone "6"
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Valia
My Favorite Photo
My Garden Journal
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| | Posted on Saturday, November 13, 2004 - 11:59 pm EST : |
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Thanks, Terry.
Anne, Washington State, Zone 5 |
Frostycurls
My Garden Journal
My Weather
My Garden
| | Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2004 - 11:36 am EST : |
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Thank you so much.
Penny Oregon Zone 7 |
Galanthophile
My Favorite Photo
My Garden
| | Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2004 - 01:44 pm EST : |
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Here are the pictures of the leaves of my mirabile. They are very attractive in their own right.
Galanthophile
- Ann (Northern England),
Zone "8"
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Valia
My Favorite Photo
My Garden Journal
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| | Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2004 - 02:47 pm EST : |
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Wonderful, Ann!
Amazing how similar they are yet each one is different.
Anne, Washington State, Zone 5 |
Tim
| | Posted on Sunday, November 14, 2004 - 04:39 pm EST : |
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Nice plant Ann - looks just like a selection called 'Tile Barn Nicholas', a selection made by Peter Moore who owns Tile Barn Nursery. Peter has a nice website worth visiting for anyone who has an interest in cyclamen. He is widely regarded as the finest grower of cyclamen in the world. Web address is: www.tilebarn-cyclamen.co.uk
Tim Cambridgeshire UK Zone 7 |
Terryk
| | Posted on Monday, November 15, 2004 - 07:11 am EST : |
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Thanks Tim for sharing that site. As you can imagine, I want them all. Anne, if you have not gotten hooked yet, this will certainly do it!
Does anyone know how difficult it is to import the plants to the US?
Terryk
- NY,
Zone "6"
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Valia
My Favorite Photo
My Garden Journal
My Weather
My Garden
My Time
| | Posted on Monday, November 15, 2004 - 10:36 am EST : |
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The site is a hooker. (Hmmm... that didn't come out quite the way I meant it.
I especially liked the photo with the assortment of small plants which had such a variety of foliage.
Anne, Washington State, Zone 5 |
