In article .com,
wrote:

Hello again,

This thread has been quiet for a while, but the comments were
appreciated. Thanks, paghat, for your advice about outdoor growing
conditions for cyclamens. Mine are still happy, though it looks like
they're finally dropping their flowers.

Cyclamens are summer-dormant in their native environment (Eastern
Mediterranean) and also in California -- unless they are watered, which
I do not intend to do. Therefore, I also asked about companion plants
which would provide year-round interest in this spot. Paghat's
suggestions we

Purple Meadow Crane's-bill (Geranium pratense)

Shade annuals that are nearly spent by September & even if they
wanted to last until november can be cut to the ground a little
prematurely just as the cyclamens are beginning to bloom.

Muscari latifolium

Alpine Water Fern (Blechnum penna-marina alpina)

These all sound like good suggestions. I haven't planted anything yet.
Let me throw two other suggestions into the mix, and see whether
anyone has any opinions.

The _Sunset_Western_Garden_Book_ has this to say about C.persicum:
"Good choice for color in place to be occupied by tuberous begonias in
summer." That's an interesting suggestion, but tuberous begonias
require a fair amount of summer water, which I'm trying to avoid. Is
there a risk of rotting a dormant cyclamen tuber with summer water?

Cyclamens do prefer dryish shade year-round, & could be more at risk of
rot during summer dormancy. However, I have C. hederifolium (the hardiest
of the hardies) scattered about one well-watered shade area & can't see
that any of them have ever failed to return in autumn good as ever. Since
even the tuberous begonias would require well-draining soil to thrive,
presumedly the cyclamens would never actually be steeping in wetness. I've
also grown them in areas that mid-spring to early autumn have large Asian
jack-in-the-pulpits which are not drought-tolerant but neither do they
like outright wetness, & I'd guess the tuberous begonias would likewise be
in that "happy compromise" of not too wet for the cyclamens but not too
dry for the pulpits or begonias. When grown as close as possible to the
trunk of a large tree, even a well-watered shade-garden will be dry close
around trees that suck the ground dry pretty fast, thus perfect spots for
cyclamens even if that needs regular watering is nearby a few feet away
from trunks.

I'm inclined towards Western American native plants, and have in fact
landscaped the area surrounding the cyclamens with many such plants
(that's why I'm aiming to use little supplemental water -- some of my
plants *need* the summer dryness). So, when I read the Sunset entry
for Vancouveria hexandra, it sounded promising. A maximum of 1 foot
high, little summer water, dies back in winter. What do you think?

The wild Douglas Iris or Pacific Coast Iris does well in dryish semi-shade
if not TOO dry & not TOO shady. There are a lot of hybrids of the Pacific
Coast Irises that are more shade tolerant than average, but some of them
won't reliably bloom in shade, but the wild species will. They have to
completely dry out between waterings.

Although bishop's hats attempt to be evergreen through winter, the smaller
varieties usually fail, so as soon as they get ratty-looking they can be
cut flush to the ground so that only the winter cyclamens are visible. The
wild native equivalent is Vancouveria which you mention; it too attempts
to be evergreen but eventually needs trimming back, & it can be done
sooner in winter for the sake of cyclamens (though Vancouveria much more
than the bishop's hats is usually airy enough to share space with
cyclamens in winter without hiding them, so may not require too hasty a
trim). Vancouveria is a charming plant that flaps its leaves in the
slightest breeze so adds movement to a low-growing shade garden.

Temperatures aren't right for me to grow amaryllis here, but a little
further south they'd be good companions for cyclamens. Corydalis lutea is
the most drought-tolerant corydalis & it vanishes in winter. Other
possibilities are Oregon Oxalis, the somewhat drought-hardy deciduous
ferns in the Dryopteris genus (& if not too awfully dry the Japanese
painted fern & the hybrid "ghost" fern are more drought-tolerant than
people seem to realize). And the old reliable dry-shade standard is sweet
woodruff; mine has never become aggressive because it is hemmed in on four
sides by the house, walkway, & two large thick-rooted shrubs, so nowhere
it can spread wantonly. The sweet woodruff shares its area very happily
with Hyacinthoides non-scripta 'Alba' (see
http://www.paghat.com/scilla_alba.html ) that does jolly well in dry shade
but are up for spring only. Cyclamens would grow well in there too, but
the big shrubs don't let me get in close to aprpeciate a plant that short,
so I haven't planted them there.

Though I've never shared the widespread enthusiasm for hostas which are
slug magnets, the majority do superbly in dry shade, & they vanish utterly
for winter. I have a long row of cyclamens growing along the house under
the eaves, but because cyclamens are so short I haven't completely filled
the area with them, but only the front edge of that strip of ground. So
I've been pondering putting some hostas behind the cyclamens virtually
touching the house. Haven't made that decision yet since I do find hostas
a bit dull & they force a gardener to attend to snails too much.

I had good luck with daffodils in that spot but only if I could be
satisfied for them to bloom well for only one year spring; there's too
little sun for them to recharge for the next year, so I've stopped
planting them there, I prefer that they naturalize rather than always
needing replanting. This past autumn, though, one long section behind the
cyclamens under the eaves, I planted a number of Muscari species & will
compare their effectiveness over time. I have hopes that the tasselled
muscari will like the conditions & fully naturalize; I gave them the
sunniest of the shade spot but it's still pretty darned shady.
Hyacinthoides non-scripta would be more of a sure thing, but I've got
enough of that elsewhere. I'll know in time which of the sundry muscaris
will really naturalize in droughty shade; they might well just bloom
really great this year then peter out as do daffodils in insufficient sun.

-paghat the ratgirl

--
"Of what are you afraid, my child?" inquired the kindly teacher.
"Oh, sir! The flowers, they are wild," replied the timid creature.
-from Peter Newell's "Wild Flowers"
Visit the Garden of Paghat the Ratgirl: http://www.paghat.com


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