Learn to easily raise healthy, gorgeous cyclamen

These dainty plants, with heart-shaped leaves and pink, rose, or white flowers make a unique accent for shady spots in your garden. We'll give you a detailed look on how to plant and raise gorgeous cyclamen.

• Cyclamens thrive in humus-rich soil and bloom in cool autumn weather, when little else is in flower. Nestle a few against the roots of a large tree or tuck them into the curve of a path. When pleased with their location, hardy cyclamen will grow into lovely naturalized colonies.
• Cyclamens are sold as potted plants or dormant tuber-corms. The tuber-corms look like smooth, rounded, somewhat flattened brown cookies.
• Small nubbins of growth indicate "this side up" when planting. Plant tuber-corms in summer and set out container-grown plants in early fall.
• Before planting, amend your soil with organic matter in the form of compost or leaf mould. Good drainage is crucial, because cyclamens grow poorly in wet soil or can rot.
• Set tuber-corms 2.5 centimetres (1 inch) below the soil's surface, and mulch lightly after planting with dried, chopped leaves.
• Once your cyclamens are established, fertilize them with a balanced organic or controlled-release fertilizer when new growth appears.
• Flower buds that appear crinkled and fail to open have likely been damaged by cyclamen mites, a tiny spider-like pest. Remove faded foliage in early summer to interrupt the life cycle of this pest. The next fall, apply a commercial miticide labelled for use on cyclamen as the flowers and foliage appear. Gaps in a planting can often be attributed to mice, which can eat the tubers.

• You can extend cyclamen bloom time by growing different species.
• Hardy to Zone 7, ivy-leaved cyclamen (C. hederifoliu.) blooms in late summer to early fall with white or pink flowers held on 15 centimetre (6 inch) stems. A few weeks after its flowers fade, dark green ivy-shaped leaves emerge, each marked with silver. The foliage lasts through the winter and then the plants go dormant from spring to late summer.
• The leaves of C. cou appear in the fall, and the magenta or fuchsia-pink flowers appear on 10 centimetre (4 inch) stems in early spring. C. cou also goes dormant in the summer, but tolerates hot weather better than ivy-leaved cyclamen. It's hardy to Zone 5.

Cyclamen are gorgeous and easy to care for, and their somewhat unique growing times and climate tolerances make them extremely useful for those looking to add some elegance to their garden. Use this guide to raise the healthiest, most breathtaking cyclamens around.