Do other people find that Cyclamen coum has decided view on where
it wants to grow? . Plants never come back next year but seedlings
appear in strange places. One is now flowering happily in the lawn.


--
CTC Right to Ride Representative for Richmond upon Thames

In article ,
Paul Luton wrote:
Do other people find that Cyclamen coum has decided view on where
it wants to grow? . Plants never come back next year but seedlings
appear in strange places. One is now flowering happily in the lawn.

Yes. There were some that had established themselves in the almost
waterless soil under a conifer. When we removed that, I planted them
in a bed in the rain shadow under the eaves where they have gone wild!
Virtually nothing else will grow, which helps with weeding :-)

I am surprised at the lawn, but I have noticed some seedlings in some
pretty weird places. They tend not to thrive, though.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679

On Sat, 25 Jan 2003 19:31:33 +0100, Paul Luton
wrote:

Do other people find that Cyclamen coum has decided view on where
it wants to grow? . Plants never come back next year but seedlings
appear in strange places. One is now flowering happily in the lawn.


I have been growing Cyclamen coum under coniferous trees for many
years now and the situation seems to be a good one. They like the
very deep layer of duff that accumulates with time, and multiply
fairly freely.

Mine get fertilized once in a long while with whatever is the
current fashion: sheep manure, human urine, 13-16-10 out of a
bag. I also lime the beds, throwing extra lime on them when I am
applying it to the lawn and other flower beds.

Note that the climate here is "cool Mediterranean": mild, fairly
wet winters, cool, very dry summers. Winter drainage is an issue,
especially in my low-lying garden. Soils here tend to be acidic
and soluble nutrients are easily leached by the winter rains.

Cyclamen coum seems to like:

a. shaded from hot summer sun.
b. not sitting in water during the winter.
c. very humus-y soil.
d. reasonable quantities of lime.
e. not baked totally dry in summer.


However, like you, I find that some of them colonize the lawn, in
defiance of these strictures.

It's curious that your Cyclamen coum don't come back afterthe
first year. Is it possible that you have a serious infestation of
weevils, mice, or other critters that eat cyclamen tubers?


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

In article ,
Rodger Whitlock wrote:

Cyclamen coum seems to like:

a. shaded from hot summer sun.
b. not sitting in water during the winter.
c. very humus-y soil.
d. reasonable quantities of lime.
e. not baked totally dry in summer.

Well, in the position I have them at present, conditions (d) and (e)
fail spectacularly!

From what I understand of where they come from, several species
(probably including C. coum) are adapted to very poor soils and
near-waterless summers. I think that the reason they like a lot
of humus in the UK is for the drainage - with me, they get sand and
like it!

Certainly, they estivate quite happily and, if I recall, they are
fairly common in Crete - where it gets pretty dry in the summer
by UK standards.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679

Nick Maclaren wrote:

(snip)
From what I understand of where they come from, several species
(probably including C. coum) are adapted to very poor soils and
near-waterless summers. I think that the reason they like a lot
of humus in the UK is for the drainage - with me, they get sand and
like it!
Certainly, they estivate quite happily and, if I recall, they are
fairly common in Crete - where it gets pretty dry in the summer
by UK standards.

Regards,
Nick Maclaren,

Yes - there are beautiful Cyclamen in Crete, but there's no Cyclamen
coum there, I think.
Regards,
Roger.


You're welcome to visit my gardening page:
http://users.pandora.be/roger.van.loon/gardenp.htm

In article ,
Roger Van Loon writes:
| Nick Maclaren wrote:
|
| From what I understand of where they come from, several species
| (probably including C. coum) are adapted to very poor soils and
| near-waterless summers. I think that the reason they like a lot
| of humus in the UK is for the drainage - with me, they get sand and
| like it!
| Certainly, they estivate quite happily and, if I recall, they are
| fairly common in Crete - where it gets pretty dry in the summer
| by UK standards.
|
| Yes - there are beautiful Cyclamen in Crete, but there's no Cyclamen
| coum there, I think.

Could well be. It is certainly native to a large part of Asia
Minor, most of which has next to no rainfall for several months
in the summer.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

In article ,
Roger Van Loon writes:
| Nick Maclaren wrote:
|
| From what I understand of where they come from, several species
| (probably including C. coum) are adapted to very poor soils and
| near-waterless summers. I think that the reason they like a lot
| of humus in the UK is for the drainage - with me, they get sand and
| like it!
| Certainly, they estivate quite happily and, if I recall, they are
| fairly common in Crete - where it gets pretty dry in the summer
| by UK standards.
|
| Yes - there are beautiful Cyclamen in Crete, but there's no Cyclamen
| coum there, I think.

Could well be. It is certainly native to a large part of Asia
Minor, most of which has next to no rainfall for several months
in the summer.

For a couple of years now I've been watching some experimental plantings of
Cyclamen here, C.coum in a well drained place where it gets a heavy carpet
of Oak leaves dumped on it every year and C. hederifolium just outside the
drip circle of our big Pinus radiata - they are in almost bone dry acid soil
and subject to a continuous heavy rain of pine needles (failed to grow
anything at all there in the past). Both lots are doing much better than I
predicted and I now intend to do some serious planting in both places. I was
looking at the C. coum this morning and saw lots of seedlings. The best
patch of C. coum last year isn't flowering quite so well this time. In the
light of the previous postings my earlier predictions were obviously too
pessimistic.

Rod

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

In article ,
Rodger Whitlock wrote:

Cyclamen coum seems to like:

a. shaded from hot summer sun.
b. not sitting in water during the winter.
c. very humus-y soil.
d. reasonable quantities of lime.
e. not baked totally dry in summer.

Well, in the position I have them at present, conditions (d) and (e)
fail spectacularly!

From what I understand of where they come from, several species
(probably including C. coum) are adapted to very poor soils and
near-waterless summers.

I find likewise. I have C. coum in 3 or 4 different postions but the
ones that are in the driest spot, slightly raised, with lots of grit and
amongst tree roots are the ones which flower most spectacularly and
whose leaves always look firmest and healthiest.

Janet G

On 27 Jan 2003 09:07:49 GMT, (Nick Maclaren)
wrote:

In article ,
Rodger Whitlock wrote:

Cyclamen coum seems to like:

a. shaded from hot summer sun.
b. not sitting in water during the winter.
c. very humus-y soil.
d. reasonable quantities of lime.
e. not baked totally dry in summer.

Well, in the position I have them at present, conditions (d) and (e)
fail spectacularly!

From what I understand of where they come from, several species
(probably including C. coum) are adapted to very poor soils and
near-waterless summers. I think that the reason they like a lot
of humus in the UK is for the drainage - with me, they get sand and
like it!

Certainly, they estivate quite happily and, if I recall, they are
fairly common in Crete - where it gets pretty dry in the summer
by UK standards.

Cyclamen coum on Crete? raises eyebrows Not that I disbelieve
you but I am surprised to read this. AFAIK, the locus classicus
for C. coum is the Black Sea coast of Turkey, where they grow,
typically, in among the hazel trees. A "mesic woodland" is
probably not a bad description.

One thing about the genus Cyclamen is that there are two groups
of species differentiated by their ecological preferences. One
group is truly Mediterranean in its tastes, enjoying rather warm,
dry summers and fair amounts of light. Cyclamen graecum is a good
representative of this group. The other group prefers somewhat
shadier, moister conditions. Cyclamen are not absolute
bolshevists about insisting on their ecological preference, being
highly adaptable, but for best results it would seem that the
more closely you can approximate their natural preference, the
better they will do.

The Cyclamen Society's latest bulletin has an article in it about
C. pseudibericum, which one of their Turkish expeditions examined
closely in the wild. They conclude that this species prefer the
moister conditions: it was found on north slopes, in deep cracks
in limestone pavements, and other sites that provided just a
little extra coolth and moisture.

I sometimes wonder if the critical aspect of this ecological
preference relates to the survival of seedling tubers. I have a
great many C. hederifolium in my garden, under pine trees where
they get almost no summer water, and most unusually for such a
strong growing species, they do *not* self sow. I suspect the
summer conditions are just too dry and the young seedlings wither
and die.


--
Rodger Whitlock
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Xref: 127.0.0.1 uk.rec.gardening:165358

In article ,
Rodger Whitlock wrote:

Cyclamen coum on Crete? raises eyebrows Not that I disbelieve
you but I am surprised to read this. AFAIK, the locus classicus
for C. coum is the Black Sea coast of Turkey, where they grow,
typically, in among the hazel trees. A "mesic woodland" is
probably not a bad description.

Almost certainly my mistake!

One thing about the genus Cyclamen is that there are two groups
of species differentiated by their ecological preferences. One
group is truly Mediterranean in its tastes, enjoying rather warm,
dry summers and fair amounts of light. Cyclamen graecum is a good
representative of this group. The other group prefers somewhat
shadier, moister conditions. Cyclamen are not absolute
bolshevists about insisting on their ecological preference, being
highly adaptable, but for best results it would seem that the
more closely you can approximate their natural preference, the
better they will do.

Yes. But consider the locations. A dry location in the UK is going
to be comparable to a cool, damp location in Turkey. And, similarly,
near full sun here is little brighter than half shade there. Most
of the postings on this thread have been about half shaded but dry
conditions.

Your point about the years is also good. I notice that mine have
seeded much better in recent years, which I put down to a relatively
long warm wet period (even though they are in near-total rain
shadow). In years when the period from soil warming to drying out
is only a month, and similarly in autumn, the seedlings don't
establish.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren,
University of Cambridge Computing Service,
New Museums Site, Pembroke Street, Cambridge CB2 3QH, England.
Email:
Tel.: +44 1223 334761 Fax: +44 1223 334679