Cyclamen Hederifolium (Neapolitanum)

Description

Plants produce handsome silver-marked foliage with red, pink or ivory white flowers in August and September. They are completely hardy and relatively easy, naturalising by self-seeding. Cyclamen hederifolium has a wide distribution stretching from south eastern France, through Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, (including Crete and many of the Aegean Islands). It is very tolerant of dry shade being summer deciduous, coming back to life with the late summer rains.

Sowing Advice

Seeds should be sown at any time, and as soon as possible after you have received them. Sow the seeds thinly onto a gritty, loamy compost and cover about 6mm or 1/4 inch deep as light can inhibit germination. Keep at between 10 and 15 degrees C. Germination can take from one to twelve months and is generally erratic, a strategy that has evolved to protect the strain in the wild. Pot on into a low-organic content compost.

Key Facts