In article ,
"'Mike'" writes:
| "danny22" wrote in message
| ...
|
| After spending four quid buying a cyclamen from b&q in the morning, a
| colleague from work came in with a tray of six of them in the afternoon
| and said b&q were throwing them out because they were starting to fade.
| so she gave me another one to add to the one i had bought.
|
| My wife is the gardener, but she planted some in the bed and they have over
| a period of time spread to the gravel bed and are 'almost' a weed now.
|
| She explained to me that the method of self propagation is that the flower
| bends over and drops the seed straight in the ground, therefore these plants
| must have leaned over the edge of the garden to drop their seeds :-)
|
| Care? None at all, they did it by themselves!!!!!
|
| Someone will now correct me :-(

Only somewhat. Yes, that is correct, but the cyclamen that will
naturalise themselves are the hardier ones - C. coum, C. hederifolium
etc. - and the ones normally sold in the supermarkets are tender
strains of C. persicum. The latter will grow quite happily outside
in summer, but certainly won't take a Cambridge winter, and I doubt
they will even take an IOW one. C. coum couldn't care less about
moderate frost, as long as it is in a dry location.

So "danny22" needs to treat them as moderately tender pot plants, and
not plant them outside.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.