Cyclamen hederifolium
Even though the delicate purple-pink flowers of Cyclamen hederifolium (or white, in the case of C. hederifolium f. albiflorum) are so pretty and a joy to see, their arrival does usually signify that summer’s coming to an end, which, depending on your mindset, may or may not be entirely welcome. Still, if anything’s going to lift your spirits about the arrival of autumn, it’s drifts of these small flowers, which usually start emerging when rainfall increases and temperatures lower. They pop up from the underground tuber ‘naked’, the leaves developing later, towards the end of the flowering period.
The ivy-shaped leaves are patterned, marbled and splashed with silvery markings, and they stay verdant throughout winter before dying back in mid-spring. Then the spiralled flower stalks will be revealed.…