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The shift comes suddenly. One minute you're on the patio dining al fresco; the next, you're huddled inside with a blanket over your toes. Another great gardening season is winding down.
All it took was a little bit of rain to flip the switch, and before you know it, we've shifted our radar from the outside garden to indoor flowers.
The indoor cyclamen (C. persicum) caught my eye at the nursery with its neon pink flowers that look like shooting stars. Some experts compare the flowers to a snapshot of a butterfly caught midflight, but the leaves are very cool, too. They're similar to ivy leaves, but have gray outlines that draw your attention.
Anything that beautiful has got to have a catch, right?
In the case of indoor cyclamen, the plant is easy to fall in love with but difficult to take care of. (If you want something easier, go for the variety called C. hederifolium, which grows carelessly outside in our climate. You'll be able to tell the difference because outdoor cyclamen flowers before the leaves appear.) However, in my unending quest to keep my shooting stars flying high inside, I've picked up some pointers to pass on.
Cyclamen are like amaryllis, meaning they bloom, the leaves die back, and then the plant has to rest. While it rests, we think it's dead. No, it's just playing possum.
Let's go through the steps of this gardening s?ance to prevent your cyclamen from going to the "other side" too quickly.
First, never water the leaves. They don't like it. In fact, they hate it so much they turn yellow and die.
How do you water the plant without getting the leaves wet? You simply water all around the sides of the pot and under the leaves. Don't let the plant dry out; keep the soil damp but not sopping wet. The dirt should be moist to the touch but not spongy.
Cyclamen also like it cool inside (about 50 to 60 degrees) and they want bright indirect light -- place the plant next to a window facing east or west.
OK, so we've got the hang of this now. But hold on. Just about the time you're starting to tire of the constant bloom, the flowers and leaves both keel over and disappear. This, my friends, is the cycle of cyclamen.
Now you've got two choices. You can chuck the plant in the garbage, like most people do, or you can try to revive it. And let me assure you, this tempting-fate thing is actually kind of fun. (We gardeners are so easily amused, aren't we?) It isn't very complicated, in any case.
Slowly hypnotize the roots (corm) into dormancy by giving the plant less and less water. When the soil is completely dry the corm will get sleepy, very sleepy, and should slumber in a cool, dark place for three months. The only way I can remember it's there is to mark the date in my Day-Timer and hope I can decipher what the cryptic message "*Cyclamen!!!!" means months from now.
After the three months are up, replant the corm in new soil, but leave the top half exposed. In other words, plant the corm only halfway in the soil. Start watering again, and pretty soon you'll see new leaves popping out.
Come on, give it a try. What do you have to lose? Even if you forget about replanting, the kids will get a kick out of using the corm as a hockey puck in February.
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