Karl's Garden Blog

WARNING: This plant is poisonous to humans, dogs, and other mammals.

Cyclamen are common garden plants also known as sowbread or persian violet. They are perrenial and native to the Mediterranean. They produce leaves in the wintertime and an interesting upside-down flower during the spring; during the summer they fall dormant and the leaves shrivel to conserve water during the drought.

Wild Pink Cyclamens

After flowering, the fruit descends to the ground, where it’s eaten by ants. Ants also spread the seeds contained within the sticky flesh of the fruit.

Cyclamen may fall dormant with outdoor temperatures at night above 68 degrees. They are somewhat frost tolerant but foilage may shrivel if the temperature falls too far below zero.