Cyclamen leaves Part 2 - Graecum

Cyclamen graecum is famous for having some of the best leaf forms of all Cyclamen. Here are just a few;

First two are Cyclamen graecum graecum - grown from seed collected by Melvyn Jope. 

The third one is just graecum with no further information.

The fourth one is supposed to be C. graecum anatolicum and you can see it's much smaller than the others.

The fifth silver/pewter one is "Rhodope" named after a location in Crete.

The final one is supposed to be the Monte Smith form from Rhodes (anatolicum), again it's tiny.

Cyclamen leaves - Part 1 - Persicum

Just a few examples showing the range of different leaf forms on C.persicum.

Cyclamen intaminatum

Here are some Cyclamen intaminatum. The "pinkish" one turned up I think in the greenhouse sand plunge and was always a mystery because apart from the fairly reliable plain leaves white one the only other plants I had were tiny patterend leaved white ones that never did much - so where this vigourous pinking, pattern leaved one came from I didn't know. Curiously this year I found it had produced a seedling, again in the plunge.

The white ones are the "common" unpatterned leaf form. I put some seedlings out in a trough which has a 39 yo Daphne arbuscula in it.

x Rhodoxis correction

I'm indebited to Jaap Duijs for the correction to this post

http://inspiringplants.blogspot.co.uk/2013/06/rhodohypoxis-tangles.html

"In 2011 this x Rhodoxis was named 'Sonja'.
When plants are sold for several years it causes confusion if someone starts to sell plants with fancy new names.
Agefotostock has made pictures of plants of mine and is selling these pictures without my permission.  These pictures are sold to nurseries with fancy names given by Walterblom who is propagating several x Rhodoxis without my permission.

name of x Rhodoxis                                                 fancy name

Hebron Farm Red Eye                                       Summer Stars Peppermint
Aya San                                                                  ,,               Candy
Bloodstone                                                             ,,               Ruby
Jenny  (Otterlo 888)                                               ,,               Pink Blush  or Ruby
Sonja  (Otterlo 860)                                               ,,               Pinkey  

Kind Regards,
                       Jaap Duijs."

A couple of dubious Cyclamen

Over the decades I've grown a number of Cyclamen from various seed sources and inevitably some aren't what they are supposed to be. Some are easy to spot. The pink C. purpurascens that was supposed to be purpurascens album, a hederifolium appearing within a pot of C. cyprium seedlings. Others are a bit harder to tell. Suspicious looking C. rhodense, C.creticum that are probably purer white forms of C. balearicum and so on.

The two above are examples of the ones that are harder to prove. The first is supposed to be Cyclamen africanum album. Never heard of a pure white one before - but it came with a name of someone that would in theory know. The other is supposed to be Cyclamen africanum x hederifolium. Given C.africanum is harder in some forms to tell from some forms of hederifolium how do you know when it's the hybrid?

Anyway, I keep them on in the greenhouse as curiousities.

Rhodohypoxis tangles

Rhodohypoxis Fred Broome of cultivation

Rhodohypoxis Pictus?

x Rhodoxis Summer Stars Pinky Sonja

My Rhodohypoxis collection is in a bit of a tangle for several reasons. For one I seem to have mixed up the labels and can't remember what I originally purchased years ago, and because stocks are often a bit mixed up in the first place.

The first one, Fred Broome is an old cultivar but was described then as being deep pick - what we grow now is more icing sugar pink with broad petals. Whatever the proper name is it's a pretty plant and seems to do well for most people.

The middle plant I had labelled as "Shell Pink" which it definately isn't. Looking at pictures it looks more like "Pictus" which I vaguely remember getting many years back.

The final plant is a hybrid between Rhodohypoxis and Hypoxis which gives a different flower form. I picked this one up at a show and it looks rather fine.

Ramonda myconi

This is the other species of Ramonda I grow, Ramonda myconi. This one is fairly pale, others are much darker and the there are white and pink forms too. I happen to have kept this one in the greenhouse - mainly because I bought a batch of various forms and when the first ones flowered and were clearly not to name I decided to keep the remainder back before planting out. It seems quite happy in the greenhouse and for now that's where it will stay.

Daphne x burkwoodii

Something from the garden this week, Daphne x burkwoodii. It's taken a while to get going and so far it's a fairly open shrub, but on the upside it lets the (Spanish?) bluebells through!

Oxalis enneaphylla x laciniata hybrid

Many years ago I bought a number of South American "alpine" Oxalis, O. enneaphylla, O. patogonica, O. laciniata and a number of hybrids between the two. 

Unfortunately they did poorly in the greenhouse and so I planted them out in various troughs, moved them around but never a flower and they dwindled over the years. This year I've just dug them up (totally the wrong time of year as they are in growth) and potted them in a last ditch attempt.

All have done poorly save one. It was labelled "superstar". It's not and it does not look the same as my reference picture - but I remember sowing seed from "Superstar". For probably five or more years it's lived ignored on the greenhouse floor and flowered really well. This year I repotted it and although it only has a few flowers it does look rather nice.

Of course I will now lose it proving conclusively that Oxalis need to be grown in a dark corner and watered just when you remember it.

Cyclamen balearicum

Above a rather nice form of Cyclamen balearicum. Still young corms but they look promising. This one has the blue green leaves and silver washing that was the typical form in the trade decades ago. I tend to keep these under the greenhouse benching as the sun causes the leaves to roll up. It has a wonderful fragrance!

I only grow one Rhodendron (Rhododendron cephalanthum var crebreflorum)

Only about 6 inches tall, I took a bit of a gamble on trying this as it's supposed to not be so easy in the south of England but so far it's done really well and unlike the plant I had many years ago that I kept in a frame it flowers really well.

Cyclamen rhodium ssp. peloponnesiacum

Top, Cyclamen rhodium ssp. peloponnesiacum in the greenhouse.

Middle, a plant I tried out in the garden. It's been there for several years now and survived which was a bit of a surprise.

Bottom,  the appropriately named "vividum".

Cyclamen pseudo-ibericum

Cyclamen pseudo-ibericum is deservedly popular plant - mainly grown in Alpine houses in the UK though it might be ok outside.

It's also variable and I wanted to show on this post just how variable it is. The first one is probably the one we most often see.

it's Tecophilaea time!

Above the three classic forms of Tecophilaea, the first the type plant T.cyanocrocus, middle var Leichtlinii and finally var Violacea. I had to do a colour adjustment on the latter because my camera shows it alot bluer than it actually is. Still not got it quite right I think.

I've built these up over 20 years from single bulbs and their flowering is a brief highpoint in the greenhouse. Obviously I've managed to increase them but so far despite seting a far amount of seed I've failed to get any raised from seed.

New Frit - Fritillaria hermonis

 

It's  taken a while to get it but here's Fritillaria hermonis. From memory there was a much commoner plant, F. hermonis amana which was widespread in nature and cultivation but the type plant was much more restricted which is the reverse of the usual. The "amana" plant is now I think F.amana so sanity is restored. For now.

I've tried to get this a number of times since it became more common in cultivation but I lost one before flowering and seed hasn't done much. So this is my first flowering.

Looking at the pics it seems to be true but probably more importantly I like it and it's a bit different from the other Frits I have.

Cyclamen libanoticum

Cyclamen libanoticum is one of my favourite cyclamen species - it's just a wonderful flower. It's not so easy to get a good looking plant - if it gets warm the leaves start to yellow as it comes into flower. I've not got it to produce a profuse display as it's relatives C. pseudo-ibericum and C. cyprium. I know some people grow it outside but I've never tried.

I've seen a few slighly different looking ones (I have the Eliot Hodgkin form still hanging on) but generally the flowers don't exhibit the same variation in cultivation as most.

It comes easily from seed and flowers quite quickly and I generally find it best in it's first decade or so.

Primula marginata "Napoleon" and "Pritchards var"

Two varieties of Primula marginata, Napoleon (which is tiny) and Pritchards.

Narcissus romieuxii rifanus

Two forms of Narcissus romieuxii rifanus I grew from Alpine garden Society seed. For some reason this is one of the few Narcissus that grow well for me so it was a nice suprise when the darker form (top) flowered.

It seems a very late season this year - looking at my pictures from this time last year the Cyclamen persicum were out - nothing even close this year.

Cyclamen coum

A few pictures of Cyclamen coum to illustrate what a great plant it is. The top picture is from several year's back showing a mix of C.coum outside in a border, flowering in February.

Flowering usually starts in January, the middle picture was taken today, as you can see C.coum is quite unaffected by the snow and frost. 

C.coum comes in colours from deep pink, mid pink to pale pink. There is a form almost white with a purple blotch at the base of the flower called forma pallidum. All of these are easy from seed and great for the garden but if you want to have a few in the greenhouse then they are nice there too.

The final picture is one of the special forms I keep safe in the greenhouse, C.coum forma albumissum - pure white without the basal blotch. Some albumissums are weak growers - this one, grown from Cyclamen Society seed seems quite vigourous.