My cyclamen are blooming too! I'd almost forgotten that I'd planted them at all. :)

Amy in Victoria

I saw a wisteria blooming at a neighbor's yesterday, as well as a columbine at my house. Is it summer, fall, or spring?????

Cyclamen here also...not only in the ground, but those I'd started in pots. I took a 4x5" pot that must have had a doz flower stems in it and was bulging at the sides to my sister on Sunday, the poor thing desperately wanted to be in the ground. I found three ripe seed pods from last season in the same pot when I inspected it, a nice plus because I never time harvesting them correctly in the garden :)
Sis didn't get the seeds.

I see the weatherman is predicting more rain tomorrow night. I can keep my hose coiled up for another week!

Morz8, that sounds like a nice plant you gave your
sister. I hope she liked it. I just started growing cyclamen from seed this year and have been having a lot of fun with it. I didn't realize how many species there were or how variable the leaf designs were. Every plant is different and I love them all. Most of them I started in January should be large enough to plant out in my garden this fall. It should liven up my winter garden. Karen

You lucky Washington rain recipients! It hasn't rained here in Oregon, at least not in Oregon City. Nice cooling clouds but no water. Every once in a great while there's less than 5 minutes of very fine mist, less than caterpillar spit. But no rain. Need rain!

My cyclamen are blooming also. I gathered the seeds that ripened and put them in one huge pot, hoping some will come up. The few I missed, well, the ants carry them off, and drop them where they want. Interesting study on how they get transported all over the garden. I was always wondering how they ended up growing in the lawn, and then I had to move them. The ants love the gel that is around each seed, so if you plant seeds from your own round ball with seeds, let the gel evaporate naturally on a platter before planting, as it helps the seed germinate.
darlene

My cyclamen are coming up everywhere. My colchicums are blooming now also. They were about 2 weeks earlier for me.

Darlene,
Good luck with your cyclamen seed. You can also soak the seeds in soapy water for a day to get rid of the sticking gel. I sowed a lot of cyclamen seed last December. I grew some of them underlights 24 a day in the garage all winter. The rest I winter sowed. The ones grown uder lights were the equivalent of 2 year old plants by this summer. I had several of them bloom already. The ones I winter sowed came up in June and are growing nicely but they are very tiny. If you want to speed things up you might try growing them indoors this winter. They like a cool room 65 degrees or so. Here's a photo of the two next to each other. The large blooming plants were grown under light and the small seedlings were grown outside. Both were sown in December. Karen

What a nice surprise this week - the cyclamen must be liking this wet cool weather because those seeds I sowed in mid August are germinating. Surface sowed in 4x5" deep pots outdoors, covered only with vermiculite.

Morz8, congratualtions on your seedlings. It's fun to have something sprout and grow this time of year. I am really enjoying all the cyclamen I grew last year. It is so nice to have flowers and beautiful foliage this time of year when most of the other perennials are going dormant. I have been planting a lot of my seedlings in my garden beds this fall as they are large enough. I am trying a few other species as well, coum, alpinum, purpurescens and a few others. It will be interesting to see how well they grow in our climate. Good luck with your seedlings. Karen

Cool, folks. Karen (flowerfan2) you have caught the cyclamen bug! Andi (doublemom2) and I, are really addicated to Cyclamens. They were soooo beautiful coming up in the garden this year. I'm trying two new species in the garden this year, Cyclamen pseudibericum (large flowers) glossy leaves. Cyclamen persicum, the mother of all florest cyclamen.

I hope they winter okay, I've heard pericum is half hardy, I have it in a very protected place.

Some of my babies are still blooming their hearts out. Amazing plants!

Hi Hosta guy, yes I caught the cyclamen bug. I made the mistake of logging on to gardenbuddies cyclamen forum on a cold grey winter's day. After looking at all those beautiful photo's for an hour I was hooked. I ordered seed to 8 different species and have been having varied success with it. Some germinated right away and are already blooming size, and some are still just starting to germinate after 9 months. The leaves are so variable. Every one looks different and I love them all.

I have been experimenting with placement in my garden. I have read that cyclamen like it cool and shady and dry during the summer when it's dormant. I planted some hederifolium in my parking strips and rockery. It gets very hot and dry in these situations during the summer. All of the plants made it and bloomed this fall. I also tried putting cyclamen in pots with other perennials. These pots got watered 4-5 times a week all summer, and the cyclamen didn't rot. They all came back this fall and looked great. I guess these bulbs are a lot more tolerant of less than ideal growing conditions and I am going to keep experimenting with placement. My parking strips are so bare during the winter. It would be wonderful to have c. coum blooming and growing there all winter. It would really perk up those grey winter days.

They are a great companion to hosta's, so I can see how you and Andi got interested in them. The cyclamen grow and bloom when the hosta's are dormant and the hostas bloom and grow when the cyclamem's are dormant. When you have a small garden, like I do, it really lets you maximize your garden space.

Good luck with your pseudibericum and persicum. Let me know if your persicum makes it through the winter. I just have one of those that I keep indoors, but it would be worth trying outside if yours makes it. Karen

Cyclamen hederifolium often appears in August.

Karen, you've done sooo much with cyclamens in sooo little time, how cool. They're very addictive plants, and I believe very underused in the Northwest. People just seem to stop noticing plants after the amazing summer blooms and fall sets in, so I think they get forgotten. They're the perfect transitional plants for fall. Along with Monkshood, which I just discovered. Oh and Autumn Crocus.

Hederifolium, is very tough here I'm finding. And yes, all the variations in the leaves make them soo interesting, every plant seems truly unique, silvers, greens, interesting patterns.

I think it is sooo important to visit nurseries all the time through out the seasons and really see what plants are doing what. Pick the best most interesting plants we can, research them, site them properly, and enjoy them. Visiting nurseries all year makes it so easy to build a 4 season garden.

Oh and thank you, I'm really enjoying the Sango kaku Japanese Maple seedling you gave me at Andi's a couple of years back, she's about 3 feet tall now, the red bark is really coloring up nicely, and the leaves are a soft lemon color, very pretty!!

Hi Hostaguy, I agree. Cyclamen and winter blooming plants are very underused. They are great out here with our mild climate and very little snow cover. They really cheer you up on our cold grey days. I have been planting the cyclamen by the door and sidewalks so they are easily seen when going in and out during the winter.

I am glad your Japanese maple is growing well. I have a coral bark seedling that is 4 years old now and I just love it. It really turned a pretty yellow this fall. I am going to plant it out in the yard next year with lots of cyclamen at it's feet. Karen

{{gwi:678805}}

If by next year you mean next spring, plant it out this fall instead. It will thank you for releasing it from that now undersized pot and getting it into the ground during the best planting time (for cold-hardy plants) of the hole year.

WOW! That's a gorgeous coral bark seedling, Karen! I love the idea of cyclamens around it. I also under plant the native dicentra under the maples.
Looks very similar to the one you gave me. Amazing, that some of the seedlings come pretty true to the parent plant.

I think you gave me some lace leafs too, a couple have stunning fall color right now.

Japanese maples grow like weeds in the NW, I know most people in the rest of the country are soooo jealous that we can grow them soooo easily. I'm becoming addicted to them. I also have an Orange Dream that is doing quite well. I planted a ton Japanese maple seeds this fall, we'll see if I get any new interesting babies.

Hi bboy, I know now would be the perfect time to plant it but I have to get rid of the ugly vine maple first. It has never had good fall color, the leaves just turn brown. It has had disease problems and die back and I would love to replace it with this lovely JM. I know if I cut it off at the ground it will stump sprout forever. If I poison it, it could kill all the plants that the roots come in contact with. I was thinking about having my husband pull it our with his winch. Any suggestions as to the best way to get rid of this tree?

Hosta Guy, yes I am getting hooked on Japanese maples also. They are so pretty and grow so well out here. I have raised a lot of nice trees from seed that I love. I did break down and buy a golden full moon maple as my seedlings of this plant grow soooooo slow. Here are a few photo's of some of my seedlings and my GFM maple. Good luck with your seeds. Karen

Golden full moon maple

Seedling of red pygmy

Seiryu Japanese maple seedling

Winch is probably a good idea. We pulled out many junipers this way.

Those are beautiful maples, Karen! Such a green thumb you have.