How to Keep Cyclamens Happy Through the Holidays
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Cyclamens are such a pretty holiday plant with butterfly-shaped petals. Here’s how to keep these houseplants happy and help them bloom through winter.
Cyclamens (Cyclamen persicum) have brightly colored flowers in white, red, or pink suspended above attractive, heart-shaped leaves on slender stems. Some people say they resemble butterflies in flight!
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When selecting this winter-blooming houseplant, choose one with lots of buds just starting to open as well as sturdy, succulent leaves.
With proper care, cyclamens will bloom near Christmas and continue blossoming for 2 to 3 months.
Cyclamen Plant Care
You’ll be fine if you consider the conditions that make cyclamens happy. Make sure to review what they need if you want these delicate plants to keep blooming.
The most important elements for cyclamen happiness are indirect light, good air circulation, moderate humidity, and moist soil (without keeping the tuber so wet that it rots).
They need high humidity, maybe daily misting, plus a pebble tray. (Pebble trays are great for indoor plants during the dry winter heating season. Put a layer of gravel in a shallow tray, set the containers on the gravel, and add water to just below the bottom of the pots. Refill to offset evaporation.)
- Lighting: Cyclamens need good light but not too bright. Place them in an east-facing window or northern window that offers bright, indirect light.
- Temperature: They prefer cooler temperatures of 60° to 65°F (15° to 18°C) in the daytime and 50° to 55°F (10° to 13°C) in the evening. If that’s challenging, just do not let temperatures go above 70°F (21°C), or the plant will think it’s time to go dormant, which will cause it to stop blooming and drop its leaves. Also, keep away from drafts of any kind.
- Watering: Keep the soil moist but not soggy. Wait until the soil looks and feels dry on the surface and the foliage looks as if it’s just starting to get limp. Never water on top of the tuber in the center, which may rot if the soil remains too wet. Never water the leaves. A safer watering method that we use is to place each pot in a saucer or pan of water for about 5 to 10 minutes, then set aside to drain.
- Humidity: They need moderate-to-high humidity—be sure to mist often. Setting cyclamens in a shallow pebble tray is an easy way to add humidity. Just add a layer of gravel to the tray and set the pots on top; pour water into the tray to just below the pot bottoms and refill when needed.
- Feeding: Half-strength fertilizer is best, or you will get mostly leaves with few flowers. Use a half-strength portion of liquid houseplant fertilizer every 2 weeks while the plant is in bloom.
- Flowers: As each flower fades, remove the entire flower stalk from where it attaches to the tuber by giving it a gentle tug. New flowers will emerge from one of the many buds waiting just below the foliage.
What to Do After Cyclamens Stop Blooming
Most folks just treat cyclamens as disposable holiday plants, similar to poinsettias. If you wish to keep your cyclamens growing, consider these tips:
- In early spring, cyclamens naturally stop blooming; leaves will turn yellow as the plants go dormant. Gradually reduce water until June and pick off the dead leaves. Set the plants outside in partial shade, and water and feed regularly. Do not wet the center of the plant.
- In early June, stop watering altogether and expose the corms to full sun.
- At the end of July, begin watering again. When the corms begin to develop young leaves, replant in a larger pot.
- Bring the plant back inside in early fall. It will usually start producing new leaves and flower buds soon, and you will have recycled your cyclamen!
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Catherine Boeckmann
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I don't know how this works in Texas. I thought I had wasted my money buying cyclamen tubers last year. They didn't do anything in the fall. Now, in the middle of April, one is producing leaves. The planter gets sun during the winter but it's shaded now. Could it be that the plant has decided that the seasons are upside down? But maybe it can't stand the heat. I'm going to bring the other ones up to the surface. The one that is growing is the one that's only half-buried, and frankly it looks like peyote. :-) The others are just under the soil, and I will bring them up.
I did not remove a spent blossom and a seedhead formed. I planted the seeds and got several plants. All grew to maturity. I have done this several times with many diferent cyclamen. I make gifts of them to friends and neighbors. Have you noticed that some cyclamen have a sweet perfume like scent(mostly white) while others have no scent?
I found a very beautiful cyclamen plant...it was marked down to almost nothing--why-I really don't know! But-it is so very beautiful! But-I haven't ever had much luck with cyclamen! Any special "hints" that I might use? Thank you!
I have a offshot of am aloe Vera that I repotted in catus soil. The leaves are getting black spots on them. Please help.
Hi Rita, We’d suggest you go to an aloe vera page and an expert can help you there. Here’s one : https://www.almanac.com/blog/natural-health-home-tips/aloe-vera-self-regenerating-first-aid-kit
I ordered some Hardy Cyclamen bulbs last Fall and they started sprouting before I could get them planted outside. (We had a very early, very harsh winter.) I planted them in a pot inside and they have survived, although they are very small, and are blooming. I would like to plant them outside. Should I just leave them, watering occasionally as I do now, and wait to plant them in the Fall?
You can plant them in a bigger container if you like and put the pot outside. Or, you can plant them in the ground and water when soil is dry.
Good Morning,
My cyclamen finished flowering about a month ago..They are near the north window, about 15" away. Now, a few leaves are still standing out and green. What do I do now. I live in an apartment and have a terrace. it could go down to 20 or less out there. Since the cycle is the opposite of what you described, what should I do to get them to bloom next season. They were in bloom since September. Thanks
Let the plant go dormant. Start watering regularly in early spring and move the plant closer to a sunny window. When tempetures allow it move the plant outside.
