Seneca Hill Perennials

Cyclamen are one of our specialties, and we're proud of the beautiful strains we've developed by selecting and propagating our own stock. Our intention is to produce exceptionally handsome garden plants of the hardier species, not to offer named cultivars of every existing species.

We ship well-developed blooming-size plants that will not require coddling in the garden.  All our cyclamen are shipped in their pots (unless your state requires us to bare-root them). Plants shipped later in the spring will be going dormant, and may arrive either leafless or with only a few leaves. Just plant them, water once, and forget them until fall. Do not irrigate them over the summer. We suggest that you not hold them in pots unless you have experience growing them this way. Early fall is an excellent time to plant cyclamen, as they are growing actively and will put out new roots.

For a complete treatment of the genus, see Christopher Grey-Wilson, Cyclamen: A Guide for Gardeners, Horticulturists and Botanists (Portland: Timber Press, 2003).

Cyclamen cilicium

A fall-blooming Turkish species with fairly small, oval, lightly toothed leaves usually marked with silvery grey, but occasionally solid deep green. The honey-scented pale pink flowers have quite narrow, sharply reflexed petals, giving a very delicate appearance. A fairly rapid grower and good self-sower.

Cyclamen coum f. pallidum

A form with plain to modestly-marked leaves and white flowers with deep purple "noses".

Cyclamen coum, Christmas-tree types

One of our favorite types, with silver or mostly-silver leaves with a central Christmas-tree-shaped green zone. Pink flowers.

Cyclamen coum 'Lake Effect'

A very special seed strain that we developed here at Seneca Hill Perennials. The flowers are white, aging to blush pink, and they lack the purple nose typical of most white-flowered C. coum. Unlike the cultivar 'Golan Heights', this is a heavy bloomer, and the blooms are large and full, sometimes with slight serrations on the petals. The foliage is typically deep matte green, lightly marked in silver. Very few available for spring 2010, but we expect to have lots more ready by fall 2010.

Cyclamen coum, mixed

Our mixed Cyclamen coum include plants with predominantly green leaves marked in silver, plants with leaves more silver than green, and plants with solid silver or pewter leaves. Flower colors range from deep pink through white with a purple nose. Mixed plants are strictly "our choice"; if you want specific leaf forms, please order those from their respective listings.

Cyclamen coum, red-flowered

A handsome seed strain with glossy deep green leaves, unmarked to lightly marked, and deep pink (not red) flowers. The flower color is most intense when the flowers open; it shifts to medium pink as they age.

Cyclamen coum, silver leaf with green border

In these plants, each leaf is silver with an elegant, clearly delineated deep green border. Flowers may be pink or white. This is one of our favorite strains, and the only one we grow that comes nearly true (roughly 95%) from seed.

Cyclamen coum, silver/pewter leaves mixed

A mix of solid- and near-solid silver or pewter leaf forms. Flowers may be pink or white.

Cyclamen coum, sterling silver leaf

We have just a few of these very special plants, wherein the leaves unfurl a glistening whitish silver - truly spectacular! Pink flowers. Very limited numbers available.

Cyclamen graecum, mixed

A sun-loving species with highly variable foliage, velvety in appearance when young. In North Carolina, gardeners grow these in the open rock garden. Here, we keep our best ones in pots, though we actually have several growing in the open garden, protected by our excellent snow cover in winter. The uncommonly elegant flowers, which open in early fall, are usually pink, though some of our seedlings are from white-flowered plants and may bloom white. The foliage is probably the most beautiful of all cyclamen species, velvety as it unfurls and strikingly marked to varying degrees with pewter or silver.

Cyclamen hederifolium, silver/pewter leaves, pink flowers

In this seed strain the leaves emerge either solid silver or mostly silver with edges of silver netting or green. As the foliage ages, it loses some of its sheen, ending up more pewter than silver, but is handsome nonetheless. The leaf shape may vary from ivy-leaved through unlobed, and from wide to narrow. Elegant pink flowers.

Cyclamen hederifolium, silver/pewter leaves, white flowers

Lovely plants with either solid silver or mostly silver leaves and white flowers. As the foliage ages, it loses some of its sheen, ending up more pewter than silver, but is handsome nonetheless. The leaf shape may vary from ivy-leaved through unlobed, and from wide to narrow.

Cyclamen hederifolium, well-marked leaves, pink flowers

We take pride in selecting and propagating fancy-leaved cyclamen, and in this and the following group you'll find some of our most beautiful plants. Leaf shapes and markings vary - these things are like snowflakes, with no two the same - but all are beautiful, and the more you order, the more varied they will be. Elegant pink flowers, with the occasional white interloper.

Cyclamen hederifolium, well-marked leaves, white flowers

We take pride in selecting and propagating fancy-leaved cyclamen, and in this and the preceding group you'll find some of our most beautiful plants. Leaf shapes and markings vary - these things are like snowflakes, with no two the same - but all are beautiful, and the more you order, the more varied they will be. Elegant white flowers, with the occasional pink interloper.

Cyclamen pseudibericum

A splendid slow-growing species, unfortunately not hardy here. Blooms in early spring with large magenta-purple flowers atop glossy deep green cordate leaves, dramatically marked with a combined silver hastate pattern and varying degrees of speckling.

Cyclamen purpurascens

Probably the hardiest species, and the only one that does not go completely dormant in summer. Its heart- to kidney-shaped leaves have a fine high gloss, and are usually (not always) marked to some degree with grey or silver. The deliciously fragrant deep pink flowers may appear sporadically over many weeks from summer through early fall. Reputed to be difficult in English gardens, but seems to be right at home in the more extreme climate of upstate New York.

Cyclamen purpurascens, extra fancy

These are spectacular seedlings from a group of parent with highly-silvered to solid silver leaves, hard to find in C. purpurascens. The seedlings, like the paremts, range from solid-silver-leaved through silver with green edges to heavily silver-marked. Our choice, but all will be over 50 percent silver.