"Hardy" Cyclamen

Cyclamen 10/1/19

Walking through the garden one morning there was a big surprise waiting... I stopped in my tracks when I saw a little flower un curling through the mulch. It was the Cyclamen I planted last year! It How exciting it was to see the blooms of these flowers that were completely out of my mind until seeing their little flowers poking through! These Cyclamen have the appearance of the ones you find in florist shops but much smaller in scale and these are of course outside hardy. They are not well known to be hardy to Iowa however but hearing about some gardeners having success I decided to give it a try.. They was originally 3 but only one has come up flowered so far. Cyclamen like a fairly specific location in the garden requiring dry shade. Summer dryness is especially important because the bulbs are dormant. Flowers curl out of the ground in September followed by the leaves a couple weeks later. The blooms last for about a month and the leaves persist through winter and to early summer the following year before fading around July. The leaves are really cool being just as beautiful as the flowers! Just make sure you plant them in the front of the garden where other perennials wont cover them up. This variety is Cyclamen cilicium which is the hardiness temperature wise but not necessarily the easiest to grow. I  like them so much 15 more were ordered to try in other areas in my garden, including a spring-blooming one! Brent and Beckys bulbs was the company chosen because they have very good quality material. Sometimes you just have to try something to really know if you will have success!

Monarch resting

 Also something very interesting to watch in the garden last week was the migrating Monarchs as they drifted through my backyard. There still migrating today but the most abundance of butterflies came in a two week period at the end of September. Some people believe butterflies avoid the city like the plague but this photo proves that otherwise because my garden is on the edge of town meaning they would have gone through the entire metro before reaching my yard. This is why it is every so important to plant natives, no matter where you are!