I can feel it in the air. Just today I noticed that a few more green bits had forced their way above the soil surface outside. Spring will be here soon and for some of you it has already arrived. In the meantime, these flowers have been helping me through. Their colourful, long lasting blooms have been a nice respite from the dreary monochromatic gloom of winter.

Cyclamen coum are very cold hardy plants that boast of beautiful foliage and bright flowers that appear in late winter, just when we winter weary souls need a bit of cheer most. They are much more dainty than the big cyclamen you see for sale in the impulse buy sections of home reno and grocery stores, yet they are also much tougher plants that can handle winter outdoors in a dry shade/woodland bed. I can’t accommodate those conditions outdoors so I’ve kept mine in pots in my unheated porch, where it is known to freeze now and again, but I can control the water they receive.

My friend Barry started these plants from seed several years ago and it’s been like a gardeners surprise bag every fall as the leaves come up in all manner of leaf pattern, colour and form. Barry gifted me three that I chose based on leaf colour — I like the silvery ones best. If you’d like to learn more about growing cyclamen or where to get seeds that you can start yourself, I’d recommend checking out the UK Cyclamen Society. They know their stuff.

As an aside, Barry and his amazing garden are featured in the new Spring issue of Garden Making magazine!