What interests him?
· Its relative hardiness, around 0°C (likes cool environments).
Like most cyclamen, the Persian cyclamen fears heat and dryness, which will block its flowering and put the bulb to rest. It is therefore the perfect plant for flowering graves in mild oceanic climates, but also for flowering our verandas, because it loves light.
· The longevity of its flowering.
If properly cared for, it can bloom for a year or more, but it shouldn’t be subjected to high heat.
· Its luminous colors, but not aggressive, varying from white to red, passing through shades of mauve, violet and cyclamen pink, make it a very interesting plant for constituting flower pots and composites at All Saints’ time.
· Cyclamen with small vegetation and small flowers called “Hummingbirds”.
– Israel Stock Photo
Its weak points:
He fears the temperatures of overheated apartments, on the other hand the setpoint of 19°C recommended for this winter suits him and we must not believe that we can compensate for the excess heat by abundant watering, because a substrate that is too wet will favor the development of root diseases such as Botrytis cinerea.
His culture,
Is generally done from sowing, but it is quite long, from 4 to 6 months to obtain small pots, up to twelve months and more for large subjects. Seeds should be spaced about 1cm apart and sparsely buried in a cool but well-drained substrate.
Transplanting at the 2-3 leaf stage is recommended.
Then the potting can be done in buckets of 7 to 9 cm in diameter always in the same substrate with however a particularity: the depth of the bulb.
During the growth phase of the plant, the bulb (or tuber) should be buried at two thirds of its size. Only the top of the bulb should emerge.
To initiate flowering, the bulb should be much less buried, about 1/3 of its diameter.
Unfortunately, we cannot follow the example of plants bought on the market because the repotting operations are entirely done by machines and the horticulturists compensate for these defects by other cultural techniques and by nutrition.
Flowering can last for more than a year, even two or three years, provided that it is not interrupted by a blow of dryness or heat.
In case of flowering stop, dry spell, the bulb is not lost. It can be kept and put back into cultivation, but the return to flowering is then quite laborious. You have to be patient.
When a flower is fertilized, the petals fall, the calyx closes on the ovary and the stem begins to bend to hide the fruit under the foliage or the seeds will ripen.
Wilted flowers are removed by simply pulling the stem, which easily detaches from the bulb.
It is quite easy for a hobbyist to produce their own seeds.
It is enough to select two plants having the characteristics of form and of homogeneous color and to carry out a cross fertilization;
The stems of the fertilized flowers are marked with a small tied colored ribbon and the other flowers are removed. All that remains is to collect the seeds when the fruit is ready to open.
Other cyclamen (for gardens):
Luckily for gardeners, there are several species of hardy cyclamen that like all shady situations and like alkaline soils (where there is limestone) and whose respective flowering periods are complementary:
The Cyclamen of Naples vs. hederifolium blooming in autumn, shade plant
– Jacques Ginet
The mountain cyclamen vs. purpurescens which blooms in summer, plant of dry undergrowth likes limestone.
The cyclamen of the island of Cos (or the Caucasus), C. common. Which blooms in winter.
Attention :
Perennial cyclamen can be purchased as bulbs, but bulbs are sensitive to drought. Do not leave them in the air for too long and possibly keep them in a slightly damp support.
Ask all your questions during the gardening program on Sunday morning on France bleu Isère from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. by calling 04 76 46 45 45