Are they the florist cyclamens or hardy cyclamens?

Good question! I don't know. Probably not hardy. I have few hardy cyclamen in the garden and they smell divine. I just buy them in a grocery store, floral section. The ones I bought in the past were scented. I kept those and they are leafing out. The latest, purchased in food store looked just like the older ones. But no scent. I knew the varieties with mottled foliage and large colourful flowers are unscented.

I buy florist's cyclamen with my nose. Here (Canada) I find that I have the best luck with the mini type, not the larger ones. The colours also make a difference in my experience: the best scented ones are usually the pink flowers, especially the warm pink colours, and the whites. It all depends on the seed mix the grower used, and you cannot tell by how they look. There are also practically scentless minis in pink and white. The scent can also differ from plant to plant, usually per colour. Some have a very sweet scent, others smell more 'fresh'. Last year I bought some small ones with heavily mottled foliage and a delicious scent too! Sometimes a store has gotten hold of what I consider a good batch, and I buy a few, quite often I wait. I am like you, a scented cyclamen or nothing.

Thank you so much for replying. Until this season I have always been able to buy scented cyclamen. This time they all looked just like the ones I've bought in the past, white and pink but no scent. None, very disappointing. What I found surprising is the cyclamen plants this year wherever I saw them were unscented. Until this season I've never encountered unscented cyclamen.

I suppose to some we may sound curmudgeonly looking for something fleeting. In the winter as I come into the house and the plant is in the foyer I get fleeting scent of the cyclamen and it's great to smell something sweet in the winter. I have lemon scented geraniums in the house. One has to rub leaves to smell it. Cyclamen on the other hand one can smell it just walking by.

I have a few hardy cyclamen I grow in the house and have never noticed a scent.

I have never noticed a scent either. You can be sure I will be checking out the very next cyclamen flowers I see.

The hardy cyclamen blooming outdoors have a scent. I'm beginning to wonder if the cyclamen I bought in the past may have been hardy ones grown in pots for indoors. Cyclamen I've bought over the years were all scented until this holiday season. The scent is not strong, however, it's a very pleasing scent.

I don't think the hardy ones will be pleased indoors. The smaller indoors type is not hardy, and they often, though not always, are scented. I once had three small pink ones that could be smelled throughout the living room. I just noticed nicely scented ones a week ago. And Thompson & Morgan have a seed mix for scented indoor types, so they do exist even now:

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/flowers/flower-seeds/perennial-and-biennial-seeds/cyclamen-persicum-grandiflorum-scentsation-mixed/7163TM

Thank you for replying. I'll look up their website. Someone said they had hardy one indoors. Mine were purchased at the florist shop and until now always smelled. The latest ones do not. Like you , the smell would waft through the room and most enjoyable . I wonder what happened that the scent is not present in the two I purchased in December. Poinsettia and cyclamen are holiday plants.

yugoslava - Can you tell us where you live?

I grow hardy cyclamen indoors and they are fine.

Maylingsmom, what kinds do you grow indoors?

I have hederifolium and coum growing in the house. I am in zone 8b and it is too humid here in the summer for them to grow outdoors so I grow them year round in the house.

That is very interesting. Do you give them any kind of rest period, either winter or summer?

Yes, I try to follow how they would rest out in nature.

I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Well I never: I live in Hamilton, ON! We have the same area growers! I got my last batch of good ones, the small kind, from Holland Park, Burlington, in December. Have also had good ones from Fortino's supermarkets.

Maylingsmom, I might give that a try. I have both hederifolium and coum in the garden, but they are marginally hardy here, and my clay soil does not help any. I keep on trying, as they are one of my favourite flowers.

My clay soil + extreme humidity = dead cyclamens

gdinie - Were you a seller on Ebay at one time?