Cyclamen coum AGM HP
The stalwart Cyclamen coum lighten up the dullest months of the year. Given well-drained soil they will naturalise happily in grass or under deciduous shrubs and trees. This small bulb (strictly a tuber) warms the heart with its charm and variety of leaf and flower, and the brightness of the colour on drab days. Cyclamen coum is a member of the primrose family, although its petals are rounded and swept back. These petals range in colour from the deepest carmine to the purest white, but all have a magenta blotch at the base. They appear on 5cm (2in) tall stems in late December or early January, and continue well into March. The kidney-shaped or rounded leaves appear in autumn, then die down in summer. There are larger, more elegant flowers among the hardy cyclamen, but none is more stalwart. Ht and S 6in.