The Master Gardener : Hardy cyclamen provide winter color

The clump birch in front of the living room window is leafless, and the garden is almost ready for winter. Although the birch leaves are gone, several clumps of hardy cyclamen under the tree provide winter cheer with their green and silver mottled leaves and corkscrew-curled seedpods.

Two hardy varieties, Cyclamen hederifolium and C. coum, are ideal for our growing conditions since they like water only in moderation. They also like shade, or at least part shade, and appreciate the trees above them that wick most of the moisture from the soil for their own use.

C. hederifolium has just finished blooming, but C. coum is in full leaf and now sending up flower stalks that will hide under the leaves until early spring, then grow taller and burst into full bloom. Both remain evergreen until about mid-July and then go dormant for about a month before the flowers appear on C. hederifolium. The leaves show up a little later.

Several hellebores near the cyclamen stay evergreen, too, and bloom in very early spring. The Christmas rose or Helleborus niger is first, with large, white, upward facing blossoms. Helleborus orientalis blooms next, with large, pendulant, maroon flowers. Helleborus foetidus and Helleborus argutifolius arrive last, with clusters of similar flowers but very different leaves. Leaves of H. foetidus look a bit like those of peonies while the leaves of H. argutifolius are quite leathery and broad.

I planted these flowers in front of the living room window so that I can enjoy their foliage throughout the winter and spot the first blossoms. A few deciduous plants provide additional winter interest here as well. Solomon’s seal, for example, turns a lovely pale wheaten color that makes a wonderful background for evergreen foliage plants.

Astilbes and dwarf goat’s beard flower stalks look especially good with a light snow covering. Evergreen ornamental grasses like blue oat grass and Idaho blue fescue have good color and a tidy, mounded shape. Leatherleaf sedge is coppery brown all year, medium tall and vase shaped.

The only flowers I generally cut down in the fall are those that turn slimy and attract slugs. Everything else can stay to remind me that it will glow with color again next year. Besides, many of the seeds provide food for birds and small mammals throughout the winter, and I get to watch them nibble.