Plants I'm Growing--First Blooms (2010): Cyclamen Coum

Cyclamen coum blossomed today. It gets the honor of being the first new flower of 2009--at least in this small corner of the world. I planted a drift of these under the coral bark maple behind the house two years ago. Those that survived have taken hold and begun to spread slowly. This is a beautiful little plant that seems unjustly neglected to me. It has variegated heart-shaped leaves and a tiny blossom that doesn't overpower the plant the way the oversized blossoms of ordinary cyclamen do. The blossom of coum is no bigger than a dime. It appears to be native to the Black Sea coast from Bulgaria to Georgia and south into Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. That explains why it survives our summer dry period. In the first year, I thought I'd lost every one I planted, but new leaves appeared once the winter rains began. A very pretty and cheerful flower that is most welcome at this time of year. I'm guessing that Daphne (Daphne odorata--buds are visible in the second photo here) will be next to bloom, followed by our Japanese flowering plum--two of the most wonderfully fragrant plants in the garden. I wish you could smell them.

(My Cyclamen coum plants are from Cottage Gardens, which has stores in Petaluma and Bennett Valley. I haven't seen this plant elsewhere, but no doubt it's available on line.)