A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Landscape trials and triumphs Gardening in the Shade Growing wild cyclamen in the garden and pots

I found some wild cyclamen in a local wooded area, and wanted to know if I can safely dig some up and transfer them to my garden. I have privet bushes that produce a lot of shade all year and gets lots of leaves stuck in between them, so wanted to plant some cyclamen between the bases of the shrubs. There are lots of earthworms in this area all year round. I also wanted to try and put a cyclamen in a pot outdoors, but I have no shaded areas really, will they grow in semi-full sun if I water them each day?

Also, if they are accidently mowed over in the late fall/early winter will they survive? I mow the garden to rid it of all the dead weeds and clumps of leaves, but there are always leaves left to slightly cover the ground in winter.

Here is a photo of the wild cyclamen, who usually produce purple flowers.

I've never had much luck transferring wild stuff from woodland to our lot. A lot of stuff grows wild on our lot anyway, so I just transfer that.

You could always deadhead the flowers from the wild cyclamen, at the end of summer, dry them out and put them away. The seed might grow for you next spring.

I transplanted some of the cyclamen to my garden and have watered them for about 2 weeks so they set root, they are alive, but the leaves are all red-brown (new growth) and the dark green is fading to this reddish-brown. Have I overwatered them, or is this because they get a bit more sunlight?

I have an indoor potted cyclamen that seems to turn reddish when it gets warmer in my home during the summer, or when it starts to produce new growth, but I have never grown them outdoors. I looove cyclamen, how is the project going Keith?

In the shade the cyclamen produced flowers, but in the sun they are red, small, and have produced no flowers. If the soil gets too dry they do poorly aswell.

So maybe that's natural, the foliage turning red. I'd like to find some wild cyclamen - maybe I could do some deadheading.

About one out of ten of my deadheads actually grow anything though.

Did you decide on anything since I've been here last?

I always call cyclamens the 'heartbreakers', 'cause they always die off on me.

I used to get them by the box for free - a guy that lives in the building here used to bring them home from work.

I ended up just leaving them in their pots and placing them around the lot. They lasted the summer, then died off.