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Hardy cyclamen

Cyclamen hederifolium

Small pink or white flowers on bare ground in September, followed by beautifully marbled ivy-shaped leaves all winter, then complete disappearance by June. It grows in exactly the position that defeats everything else — dry shade directly under a mature tree — and once established it seeds itself into a carpet.

Position
Dappled shade or Full shade or Partial shade
Water
low demand
Drainage
Free-draining
Grows to
10–15 cm × 10–20 cm
Hardiness
H5
Flowers
August to October
Difficulty
Straightforward

August

Plant · In flower

Hardy cyclamen’s year

Resolved for United Kingdom (general). Every window is stored against a climate event rather than a date, so a late frost pocket runs later than the band shows. What else August calls for.

ActivityJFMAMJJASOND
PlantMarch. April. August. September.
In flowerAugust. September. October.

Names that cause confusion

cyclamen — Usually means the large florist's cyclamen, Cyclamen persicum, which is a tender houseplant. The hardy garden species — hederifolium and coum — are small, fully hardy and permanent outdoors.

Timing that travels

The band above resolves this plant's windows into months for one region. These are the windows themselves, stored against a climate event rather than a date — which is the form that survives being carried to a colder garden, a frost pocket, or next year.

Conditions it needs

Light
Dappled shade, Full shade, Partial shade
Frost
Very hardy
Hardiness rating
H5 (RHS)
Grows best at
5–20 °C
Soil
Loam, Chalky, Sandy
Soil pH
6–7.8
Drainage
Free-draining
Water needs
low
Drought
good tolerance
Waterlogging
poor tolerance
Heat
good tolerance
Wind and exposure
moderate tolerance
Where these figures come from
LightSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cyclamen — position

Checked 2026-08-13

FrostSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cyclamen — hardiness

Checked 2026-08-13

Hardiness ratingSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: RHS hardiness ratings

Checked 2026-08-13

Grows best atSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cyclamen — temperature

Checked 2026-08-13

SoilSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cyclamen — soil

Checked 2026-08-13

Soil pHSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Cyclamen hederifolium — culture

Checked 2026-08-13

DrainageSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cyclamen — soil

Checked 2026-08-13

Water needsHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

DroughtHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

WaterloggingHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

HeatHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

Dormant through summer, so heat and drought are irrelevant to it.

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Wind and exposureHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

On your soil

Computed by comparing this plant's recorded requirements against each soil's recorded characteristics. A recorded horticultural fact overrides the comparison where GrowingHQ holds one.

SoilVerdictWhy
Heavy clayWorks, with one conditionHardy cyclamen will crop on heavy clay, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
SandyPrefers this soilSandy suits Hardy cyclamen as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.8, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Sandy soil is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Chalky and alkalinePrefers this soilChalky and alkaline suits Hardy cyclamen as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Chalky soil is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
LoamPrefers this soilLoam suits Hardy cyclamen as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.8, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
SiltyPrefers this soilSilty suits Hardy cyclamen as it stands: The pH suits it: it wants 6 to 7.8, and this soil is in that range. The free drainage is exactly what it wants. The soil holds moisture, which saves a great deal of watering.
Peaty and acidWorks, with one conditionHardy cyclamen will crop on peaty and acid, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.
Shallow over rockPrefers this soilShallow over rock suits Hardy cyclamen as it stands: The free drainage is exactly what it wants. Loam is among the soils it is recorded as suiting. It stands dry conditions better than most, which this soil will test.
Made ground and urban soilWorks, with one conditionHardy cyclamen will crop on made ground and urban soil, but one thing has to be dealt with first. It needs ground that drains, and this soil holds water. A plant that stays in the ground through winter with its roots in cold, saturated soil rots — which is what kills most of what fails on heavy ground, rather than the cold.Improve the drainage before planting — a raised bed, or bulky organic matter worked in over several seasons. Do not add sand to clay in small quantities; it makes the problem worse.

Not sure which you have? Four hand tests will settle it.

Space and spacing

Mature height
10–15 cm
Mature spread
10–20 cm
Rooting depth
15 cm
Spacing
15–20 cm apart
Where these figures come from
Mature heightHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Mature spreadHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Rooting depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

SpacingSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cyclamen — spacing

Checked 2026-08-13

How far apart to plant hardy cyclamenThree hardy cyclamen plants drawn in a row at their recorded spacing of 15–20 cm between plants. The spacing is drawn to scale against a one metre rule; the plants themselves are symbols rather than scale drawings, so the distance between them is the part to read.15–20 cm
Measured centre to centre. Plants set closer than this compete for light and water long before they look crowded, and the crowding cannot be undone once they are in.

In a container

Minimum volume
2 litres or more
Minimum depth
15 cm
Where the container figures come from
Minimum volumeHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
  • Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Cyclamen hederifolium

Checked 2026-08-13

Minimum depthHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence
  • Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Cyclamen hederifolium

Checked 2026-08-13

Suits a pan, with the tuber sitting just below the surface and a gritty top-dressing. The one thing that must be right is the summer: a pot dried off and left in the shade is correct, and a pot left standing in the rain through July usually rots. Hardy cyclamen in a container is also the easiest way to keep a colony safe from being dug over by mistake.

Habit and ultimate size

What the plant becomes, rather than what it is when you buy it. The gap between the two is where most planting mistakes live.

In a container
Good in a container long-term
Where these figures come from
In a containerHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Bulb, corm, rhizome and tuber comparedFour underground storage organs drawn in section at the same scale. A true bulb is layered scales around a growing point on a flat basal plate, and multiplies by offsets that pull apart by hand. A corm is a solid swollen stem base with a bud on top, the previous year's spent corm beneath it and small cormlets at its sides. A rhizome is a horizontal swollen stem that sits at soil level with roots below and a growing point at one end, and must not be buried. A tuber is a swollen stem with growth buds scattered over its whole surface and no basal plate, so a cut piece without a bud on it cannot grow.True bulbbasal plateDaffodil, tulip, lilyPull offsets apart by hand.Cormspent corm below, cormlets asideCrocus, gladiolus, crocosmiaReplaced yearly by a new one on top.Rhizomesoil level — top stays exposedBearded irisCut with a knife. Must not be buried.Tuberbuds scattered, no basal plateCyclamen, potatoA cut piece without a bud will rot.
All four are sold as 'bulbs'. The differences are internal, which is why they are drawn rather than photographed — and each one changes what you physically do with the thing in your hand.
Storage organ
Tuber
Survives winter in the ground
Yes — plant once and leave it
Planting depth
0–3 cm
Naturalises
Increases and spreads where it is happy
Where these figures come from
Storage organSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cyclamen hederifolium — propagation

Checked 2026-08-13

Survives winter in the groundSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cyclamen hederifolium — hardiness

Checked 2026-08-13

Planting depthSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cyclamen hederifolium — planting depth

Checked 2026-08-13

NaturalisesHorticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

A swollen underground stem with growth buds scattered over its surface rather than a single basal plate. A piece cut without a bud on it will rot rather than grow.

How deep to plant a bulb, drawn to scaleEight geophytes drawn at one scale against a soil surface line, each at the depth the catalogue records for it. A bearded iris rhizome sits on top of the soil with only its roots buried. A cyclamen tuber and a nerine bulb are barely covered, at 2 to 3 centimetres, the nerine with its neck standing proud. Snowdrops and crocuses go at 8 to 10 centimetres, a daffodil at 10 to 15, a tulip at 15 to 20 and a lily deepest at 15 to 25 centimetres. Most sit at roughly two to three times their own height, and the shallow exceptions are shallow because the organ must bake in the sun to flower.soil surface5 cm10 cm15 cm20 cmBearded irison topon the surfaceCyclamen2 cmjust coveredNerine2 cmneck proudSnowdrop9 cmCrocus9 cmDaffodil13 cmTulip18 cmplant deepLily20 cmstem roots
Two to three times the bulb's own height is the working rule, and the four plants that break it are the four most often planted wrong. A bearded iris buried by mulch or a tidy neighbour will make leaves for years and never flower again.
After flowering. Let the coiled seed stalks ripen and leave the leaf litter they seed into. Ants carry the seed and a colony spreads itself across dry shade within a few years, which is far faster than buying more.
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Where and how you can grow it

Each way of growing is assessed separately, and “not assessed” is a real answer rather than a gap we have filled in with a guess.

MethodSuitabilityWhat it needs
Open groundWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

Traditional dug bedWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

Raised bedWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

ContainerWell suited
source

Sourced guidancemoderate confidence

  • Royal Horticultural Society: Growing method suitability

Checked 2026-08-13

Growing it

  • PlantingPlant shallowly — the tuber wants its top at or barely under the surface — and buy plants in growth rather than dry tubers, which frequently never start. Get the tuber the right way up: the growing points are on the flat upper surface and there is no basal plate to guide you, which is a real difference from a bulb.
  • PropagationLet it seed. The flower stalks coil into springs that pull the seed capsules down to ground level, ants distribute them, and a colony spreads across a dry shaded area within a few years. Do not clear the leaf litter it seeds into.
  • WateringHardy cyclamen needs no watering once it is settled, and the reason it succeeds where little else does is that dry shade under a tree is its natural situation rather than a compromise. It is dormant through the summer, when the ground under a beech or a conifer is at its driest, and in leaf from autumn through winter when the rain comes. Water only a first-year planting in a dry autumn. A tuber that is watered through its summer dormancy rots, which is the usual reason a pot-grown one disappears.
  • FeedingNo feeding. A colony builds itself out of the leaf litter it seeds into, and the best thing that can be done for an establishing patch is to leave the fallen leaves where they land rather than tidying them away. Feeding encourages the surrounding grass and weeds far more than it encourages the cyclamen, and a colony spreading by ant-carried seed across dry shade is doing the one thing it is good at without help.
Where this guidance comes from
PlantingSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cyclamen hederifolium — planting

Checked 2026-08-13

PropagationSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cyclamen — naturalising

Checked 2026-08-13

WateringSourced guidancehigh confidence
  • Royal Horticultural Society: Cyclamen hederifolium — cultivation

Checked 2026-08-13

FeedingSourced guidancemoderate confidence
  • Plant Finder — Missouri Botanical Garden: Cyclamen hederifolium

Checked 2026-08-13

Four ways to make more plantsFour propagation operations compared, each showing where the separation is made and what must be present on both sides of it. Division: a clump cut between crowns, with roots and at least one growing point on every piece. Stem cutting: a shoot cut just below a leaf node, because the node is where roots form, with the lower leaves removed. Runner: a plantlet already rooting where it touches the ground, severed from the parent only after its own roots have taken. Offset: a young shoot at the base of the parent, separated with its own roots attached. In each case the cut is marked and the part that must be retained is labelled.Divisioncut between crownsroots on every piececut below a nodeStem cuttingroots form at the nodestrip the lower leavesRunnerlet it root firstthen sever the linkOffseta shoot at the basetake its roots with it
The rule is the same in all four: the new piece needs both a growing point and roots of its own. A cutting is the exception that has to make its roots afterwards, which is why the node matters so much.

What goes wrong

ProblemHow oftenNotes
Natural summer dormancycommon
source

Horticultural consensusmoderate confidence

No external citation — see the evidence type above.

Checked 2026-08-13

Disappears completely for the summer and is regularly dug up as dead.

Sources for this page

GrowingHQ editorial synthesis · Plant Finder · Royal Horticultural Society

Each figure on this page carries its own citation, under the “where these figures come from” note in its section. Record last reviewed 2026-08-14.