In my mid-west garden expectations of seeing blooms during November and December line up with degree marks on the thermometer. Mostly low down on the scale. However, in southern Indiana we do not drop straight into below freezing and stay there until late spring. Temperatures are cool to cold, but we do get days of relative warmth. Also our soil temperature remains above forty degrees until late in winter, so there are a few brave plants that defy the thermometer by coming into bloom as all others make an exit. Hardy Cyclamen coum is one such minor miracle in the garden.
Cyclamen coum needs to be located where you hesitate to place other bulbs and perennials. Place tubers just below soil line at the base of deciduous trees and shrubs where they will receive open shade and root competition to help keep them well-drained. Soil needs to be neutral to alkaline in pH as they are found growing over limestone in native habitats. I have found they perform best when transplanted to a layer of humus rich soil over a buried log or large root, or up near the base of a tree or stump. Mulch should be light and well-rotted to both protect and feed. Pine needles make an attractive dressing, chopped leaves in moderate amounts work well, but care must be taken not to smother the tubers.
Cyclamen coum begins blooming in the last part of November and into the beginning of December, depending upon the local weather from year to year. We usually get a few blooms and then the tubers are shut down by cold. Bloom will resume in February when we receive our preview of spring’s warmer weather. Since Cyclamen coum is a winter bloomer, it would be best served when planted in a protected spot out of the prevailing winds. Foliage does not seem to be bothered by the cold.
Cyclamen coum has leaves that are one to a training stem and there may be as many as 100 or more leaves on a fully mature tuber. Each leaf is rather thick with a polished appearance. The reverse side is often reddish or carmine-brown and green. Leaves are shaped like rounded hearts and reach about one and one half inch across and long. Markings and patterns on the upper side of the deep green leaves are highly variable and cultivars have been selected out and named. My favorites are foliage with a rim of deep green, inside of silver to pewter, and the mid-vein deep green in the shape of a narrow “Christmas tree”. Cultivar or species, if the tubers never bloomed, I would grow it for foliage alone.
Flowers are on separate naked scapes. Trailing scapes can be long and extend out and away from the tuber before appearing above the soil line. In a good season there can be as many as one hundred, or more, blooms at any one time. The nodding blooms are at the end of the stems with the petals reflexed back and their noses sticking out. At the base of a petal there will usually be a dark mark. Color can be anywhere from a snow white to pink and carmine.
Mine are located with primula and ferns in a raised bed with an uprooted cedar tree stump.