Cyclamen persicum - a beautiful weed

As defined a weed is a plant that grows where you don't want it to. In that case my greenhouse is full of weeds!

Several Cyclamen species have a habit of seeding into the sand plunge, or seed pots or pots of other Cyclamen species.

Cyclamen persifum is one of them - I usually leave them out of laziness and because quite often they outlive a pot's original occupants.

Also with Cyclamen you do get some variation from the parents - this one has a lovely pure pink shading - a bit different from other plants I have.

As an added bonus many of these self sown seedlings are quite vigorous having undergone some natural selection to my greenhouse environment and routines.

Almost spring

It's a polyanthus rather than a true primrose, but it's close.

New Year's Plants

Some pictures of flowers ushering the very early "Spring". Primula allionii Elizabeth Burrow, Narcissus romieuxii rifanus (it may or may not be, I grew it from seed), Viala reniforme (possibly better known as V. hederacea and an early Cyclamen persicum.

Ipheion "Rolf Fielder"

Ipheion "Rolf Fielder" is a bit of a mystery. Allegedly given to someone by Rolf at an International Plant conference the species has not been as far as I am aware, identified yet. It was under I. uniflorum but it's believed to be another species.

I've had it for several years now - this is just a seedling that escaped - I must get the main plant up into the light to flower.

It's related to the onions - the leaves and bulbs smell quite strongly.

Cyclamen colchicum

While I took this picture in October, right now this plant doesn't look too much different. I think I first came accross a mention of this plant in an article by Otto Schartz about the Alpine House at Jena in the AGS bulletin in 1974 - I can't remember what name it was under at the time. Since then it got moved under C. purpurascens and is now back as a species in it's own right.

I have a number of plants, one I bought as a tuber and some others I grew from seed - they are virtually identical but then I think they possibly came from the same original source.

The 1974 article described the single tuber in the Alpine House as being very slow growing and self sterile, grown in complete shade. I think there may have been a comment about it also being the slowest to flower from seed.

I think I got mine to flower from seed in about 18 months which made it one of the fastest to flower - I also got it to set seed from a single plant. I find it quite likes sun (as does C. purpurascens - sometimes).

Bearing in mind it can be rash to talk about a plant based on a single specimen, or single clone or even several collections, the plants I have apart from having the characteristic horny toothed leaf margins comes over as a more succulent, chunky version of C. purpurascens - uncannily paralleling the relationship between C. mirabile and C. cilicium and to a lesser extent C. africanum and C. hederifolium.

If anything it seems in the alpine house at least easier and more consitent than C. purpurascens - it also tends to flower later and with a more concentrated display. In my plants the fragrence is like that of it's relative - but much weaker. 

Red Admiral on Buddleia x weyeriana (Yellow Buddleia)

Red Admiral butterfly photographed today on our yellow Buddleia, presumably B. x weyeriana. It came with a lable "Dark Knight" or something similar - but I bought it in flower so I knew it was yellow.

Rosemary

Something simple. The rosemary by the garden gate on a misty November late afternoon.