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Celebrate the Wintery Beauty of Florist’s Cyclamen

Even when not in bloom, cyclamen leaves continue to look lovely.

Florists’ cyclamen (Cyclamen persicum hybrids) is a great imposter.  Despite the Latin name persicum, they are not from Persia (modern-day Iran) but hailed from nearby countries, including Syria, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Algeria, and Tunisia. Though the graceful flowers might make you think of orchids, cyclamens actually reside in the primrose family, Primulaceae.  The leaves are also cleverly disguised, with patterning that might be mistaken for marble or damask fabric.

Subterfuge aside, florists’ cyclamens beguile holiday plant buyers with their ravishing good looks, and every winter multitudes of them find their way into homes, offices, houses of worship, and other public and private spaces.

Cyclamen with Dancing Flowers and Swirling Leaves

Rising 6 to 10 inches tall and equally wide, cyclamen plants dazzle with basal mounds of heart-shaped leaves marbled in silvery shades.  They almost swirl before your eyes. Slender stems support nodding buds that resemble tightly furled umbrellas. Once open, each bloom features five backswept petals that may be pink, red, violet, lavender, white, or in combinations of two or more of these colors.  The petal edges are either smooth or exuberantly ruffled.  The combination of swaying stems and vibrant colors has led more than one observer to liken a pot of cyclamen in full bloom to a flock of butterflies. 

Cyclamen’s Wild Ancestors

Cyclamen persicum is the primary wildflower descendent to most cultivated Cyclamen.

In the beginning, Cyclamen persicum was a pretty wildflower that barely hinted at the charms of its modern domestic descendants.  The species made it to Europe around 1700, but breeders first took an interest in them in the early nineteenth century and have been working on them ever since. Most breeding occurs in England, continental Europe, and Japan.  All of that breeding and propagating work set the stage for cyclamens to burst onto the mass-merchandising scene nearly 50 years ago.

New Cyclamens Get Bigger and Better

Bigger flowers in more diverse color combinations are sought by plant breeders.

Consumers have always loved big flowers, so breeders have made that trait a priority.  Once they bulked the flowers up, plantsmen produced larger plants with a wider range of flower colors.  Double flowers and those with contrasting picotee petal edges also emerged from the selective breeding process. Each year it seems that the flowers get bigger, bolder, and more numerous.

Fragrant Cyclamen

One trait that was all but lost in the breeding process was fragrance. But that began to change around 2000, when hybridizers started crossing Cyclamen persicum with a fragrant Mediterranean species, Cyclamen purpurascens.  The resulting plants were somewhat smaller than standard florists’ cyclamen, but boasted pronounced fragrance, sometimes reminiscent of roses. Now scented varieties are available in many places—to find them just follow your nose in the greenhouse section of a well-stocked nursery or garden center.  One beautiful and fragrant variety to look for is the exceptional, hard-to-find, Cyclamen purpurascens ‘Green Ice’.

Holiday Cyclamen Care

With the right care, cyclamen make reliable, lovely house plants.

Fragrant or not, all florists’ cyclamens need care once they arrive home from the store. “Care” means removing the decorative foil around the pot and positioning it in a cool place with bright, indirect light. A surplus of direct sun will caused scorched leaves.

If you want to repot it after the holidays, use a quality medium like Fafard® Ultra Potting Mix with Extended Feed, and make sure the top of the root ball is level with the top of the soil in the new container. (Click here for an overview about how to repot house plants.) High humidity is a plus, so mist regularly or place the pot atop a saucer filled with pebbles. Add water to the saucer, but make sure the base of the pot is not submerged. Cyclamen appreciate moisture but detest wet feet. Water when the top of the soil is dry and aim the spout of your watering can around the edges of the pot. 

Post-Holiday Cyclamen Care

Even when not in bloom, cyclamen have decorative leaves.

With proper care, a cyclamen with some open flowers and a few buds should bloom for three or more weeks. Once the bloom period is over, gradually cut down on watering. It is not uncommon for plants to go into a natural dormancy in summer, which corresponds to a summer dry period to which they are acclimated. This is the point when most people throw a cyclamen out, thinking that it has died. Instead of doing that, you may want to try for a second cyclamen act. 

Move the pot to a cool, moderately dry location for a few weeks and then, attempt a resurrection by soaking the soil thoroughly and bringing the pot back to a spot with bright, indirect light. Wait until you see signs of sprouting before watering again, and resume a regular watering schedule. Feed with commercial houseplant fertilizer according to package directions. With a bit of luck, the cyclamen will begin its growth cycle anew.

If for some reason the cyclamen has actually died, skip the guilt and purchase another one.  The death was probably not your fault.  When thousands of plants are raised in a carefully controlled environment, and forced into bloom at a specific time, they may not have a second season’s worth of energy. Ironically, in the Victorian language of flowers, cyclamens, which seem so bright and cheerful during the winter, are symbolic of goodbyes. 

Cyclamen buds look like closed umbrellas.

Potted Holiday Trees: Selection and Care

Potted Holiday Trees: Selection and Care Featured Image

Small or large potted holiday conifers are fragrant, fresh and provide living beauty in the home, but which should you choose for outdoor planting, and how do you care for them after the lights and glitter are shed? The right care will ensure their longterm health. Here’s how to give them what they need for success.

Know Your Trees

When picking a live tree, know what kind it is, and make sure that it will fit into your landscape and grow well where you live. Don’t be fooled by the initial size. Many potted trees sold as tiny specimens grow very large. Truly compact trees sold during the holidays, such as dwarf Alberta spruce (Picea glauca ‘Conica’, USDA Hardiness Zones 3-6) or lemon cypress (Cupressus macrocarpa ‘Wilma’, Zones 7-10), can be planted in large, outdoor containers for several years. But, those that mature to a large size must be planted in the ground. So, you must know your trees.

Miniature Christmas trees with ornaments
Beware! Many holiday trees sold as potted miniatures will grow very large.

Here are some of the top holiday trees sold in North America. Each grows best in certain areas of the country. All of the full-sized evergreens mentioned need lots of space, sunshine, and well-drained soil.

Firs

Potted fir trees
Be sure to have a planting spot in your landscape for larger potted trees.

Chrismas firs have soft, flat needles, a perfect conical shape, dense branching, and wonderful wintery aromas. They make good landscape specimens, where they are hardy, and all grow to become large, regal trees.

Balsam fir (Abies balsamea, Zones 3-7): The remarkably hardy balsam fir is a fragrant, soft-needled evergreen that grows best in colder climates with cooler, more moderate summers. It has a dense, conical habit and standard forms can reach a whopping 50 to 75 feet when fully mature, so don’t plant one in a small yard or close to the house.

Frasier fir (Abies fraseri, Zones 4-7): Comparable in growth, habit, and fragrance to balsam, Frasier fir is an Appalacian species from the southeastern United States that can take warmer summers, but because it grows in the cooler mountains it cannot take the intense heat of the Deep South. At full size, it reaches 30-50 feet.

White fir (Abies concolor, Zones 4-9): A fir for the Midwest and alpine West, white fir is more tolerant of areas with warmer summers. It has a conical habit with dense branching and soft, attractive, upright needles with a silvery cast. When mature, it can reach up to 60 feet.

Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii, Zones 4-8) is not a true fir, despite its name, but the pine is a good choice for those living from Pacific Northwest down to the Southwest. Soft-tipped needles cover its branches and when grown as a specimen tree it reaches 40-80 feet and has a broadly conical habit with more open branching than that of true firs.

Pines

Potted Christmas tree inside a home
Potted Christmas trees should be well watered while in the home.

White pine (Pinus strobus, Zones 3-8) is one of the most common native pines grown for Christmas trees. It is distinguished by its long, very soft needles, which some homeowners really favor. It makes a good landscape tree with open branching and can reach 50-80 feet.

Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris, Zones 3-7) is still sold but has fallen out of favor as a Christmas tree because of its painfully prickly needles. As a yard tree, it is equally undesirable because it’s prone to many pests and diseases. This is one to avoid.

Spruces

Dwarf Alberta spruce (Picea glauca ‘Conica’, Zones 3-8) is the most common potted holiday tree and is almost always sold as a pre-decorated, miniature for indoors or outdoors. After the holidays, it can be planted in pots for or in the garden. Eventually, dwarf Alberta spruce can reach 10 to 13 feet high but is very slow-growing, so it can be grown in pots for some time before planting in the ground.

Indoor Care and Transition

Christmas Tree
Indoor conifers should be kept inside no more than ten days.

All of these evergreens need cold winter weather to grow well, so bringing them into the warm indoors for too long can be detrimental to their health. Keep them in a cool garage or covered patio before bringing them inside. Once indoors, make sure that you place a basin below the pot for watering and keep the tree well-irrigated. Maintaining a cooler room temperature will reduce stress. Don’t keep them inside any longer than ten days, a week is better.

After the holidays, remove all decorations and take your tree outside. Very hardy varieties can remain in their pots if kept close to the home. Just don’t let the pots dry out. If the ground is warm enough to be worked, plant your tree straight away.

Planting

Getting ready to plant a potted evergreen
Getting ready to plant a potted evergreen.

All of these conifers like their soil to be slightly acid, rich in organic matter, and well-drained. Black Gold Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss and Fafard® Premium Natural & Organic Compost are the best amendments to use at planting time. (Click here for the Morton Arboretum’s tree-planting instructions.)

Potted holiday trees are a long-term investment. While they decorate your home and bring joy to your family, care for them well. And, once planted, they will reward you with continued outdoor beauty for years to come.