How to Care for Cyclamen: Planting, Watering and Winter Care

With their swept-back flowers and beautifully marbled leaves, cyclamen are one of the brightest ways to bring colour to pots, window boxes and baskets through autumn and winter.

They're easy to grow once you know a few simple rules. Most problems come down to two things: too much water, and too much cold. Here's how to plant and care for cyclamen so they flower for months.

Which Cyclamen Are These?

The colourful cyclamen sold for autumn and winter pots are Cyclamen persicum, often called florist's cyclamen. They come in rich reds, pinks, salmons, purples and whites, with ranges such as Flame, Silver Leaf and Bicolour.

They are not the same as the small hardy garden cyclamen, such as Cyclamen hederifolium and Cyclamen coum, which stay in the ground all year. Bedding cyclamen aren't hardy, so they're grown as one season of autumn and winter colour.

When to Plant Cyclamen

Plant bedding cyclamen from September to November. They flower from autumn right through winter and into early spring, so getting them in early gives you the longest show.

Where to Plant Cyclamen

Cyclamen are perfect for pots, window boxes, hanging baskets and the front of a border. Give them:

• A sheltered spot, out of cold wind. A doorstep, porch or the shelter of a house wall is ideal.
• Light or partial shade. They don't need full sun.
• Free-draining compost, so the roots never sit wet.

The larger cyclamen have the biggest flowers but are the least tolerant of cold, so a porch or sheltered doorstep suits them best.

How to Water Cyclamen

This is the most important part of cyclamen care. Keep them on the dry side, and water only when the compost feels dry a little way down.

When you do water, pour it around the edge of the pot rather than into the centre of the plant. Water sitting in the crown, where the leaves and flowers join the tuber, can make it rot.

Deadheading

To keep new flowers coming, remove faded flowers and yellowing leaves regularly. Don't snip them off halfway down. Instead, pull the whole stalk away from the base with a gentle twist, so no stub is left behind to rot.

Frost and Winter Care

Bedding cyclamen will cope with a light frost in a sheltered pot, window box or basket, but a hard or prolonged frost will kill them. When a cold snap is forecast:

• Move pots into a porch, or against the house wall.
• Group pots together for shelter.
• Raise pots onto pot feet so the compost doesn't stay wet.

For more on keeping plants safe in winter, see how to protect plants from frost.

Great Partners for Cyclamen

Cyclamen look lovely with fully hardy winter pansies, bellis, trailing ivy and a small evergreen such as Euonymus. See our guide on how to plant winter pots that last until spring for ideas.

After Flowering

Bedding cyclamen are grown as one season of colour. Once they finish flowering in spring, replace them with spring and summer plants, and plant fresh cyclamen again next autumn.

Common Cyclamen Problems

• Yellowing leaves and soft stems: usually too much water, or water sitting in the crown. Let the compost dry out a little and water around the edge of the pot.
• Collapsed, blackened plants after a cold night: frost damage. Move pots to shelter before a hard frost.
• Fewer flowers: keep deadheading, and check the plant isn't sitting in soggy compost.

A Note for Pet Owners

Cyclamen tubers should not be eaten, by people or pets. Keep them out of reach of animals that like to dig or chew.

Cyclamen Care: Your Questions Answered

Can cyclamen stay outside in winter?

Bedding cyclamen can stay outside in a sheltered spot and will cope with a light frost, but a hard or long frost will kill them. Move them into a porch or against the house when a cold snap is forecast.

How often should I water cyclamen?

Only when the compost feels dry a little way down. Keep them on the dry side, and water around the edge of the pot, not into the centre.

Do cyclamen need sun or shade?

Light or partial shade suits them best, in a sheltered spot out of cold wind.

Do cyclamen come back every year?

The bedding cyclamen sold for winter pots are grown as one season of colour. The small hardy garden cyclamen are a different plant and do come back each year.

Months of Winter Colour

With a sheltered spot, careful watering and regular deadheading, cyclamen will brighten your doorstep from autumn into spring. Browse our full range of cyclamen and winter plants.

Our garden plants are grown in Britain by growers we know, including the Yorkshire nursery that grows most of them. We check every plant by hand before it's packed, and send it out ready for your garden.