Cyclamen Propagation

Q:

I have some white flowered cyclamen hederifolium in my garden and recently noticed one flower that had pretty pink and white stripes.

Is this unusual and if so, is there any benefit to it being propagated, and if so, would you know of anyone who could do this professionally as I’m not very knowledgeable about propagation of plants?

A:

I’ve just begun to notice cyclamen in flower in the garden. The seed is easily dispersed, usually by ants and this produces new leaf variations. Named strains are usually very difficult to keep true to type though. If your pink and white flower is attached to its own tuber then you could grow that on separately.

If the new flower is part of a bunch of flowers from one tuber then you could wait and see if that happens consistently and then maybe take the seed pod and sow it on its own and see what happens!

You just need to sow the seed on top of John Innes seed compost with some leafmould or multipurpose compost, cover lightly with grit, water and leave it outside in a sheltered place and be patient as it can take a while to germinate.

To speed up germination you can cover the seed pan with black polythene to exclude the light until seedlings appear. If it appears stable then you never know, a plant breeder might be interested.