How to care for a cyclamen

To care for a cyclamen, keep it in a cool, bright spot away from the heating, out of direct sun, and water around the edge of the pot or from below, never into the centre of the plant. On an east-facing windowsill, in a 16 cm plastic pot, it needs water every 6 days in December.

A winter plant at heart

The florist’s cyclamen sold at Christmas (Cyclamen persicum) grows from a tuber, a flattened bulb-like storage organ that sits half in the compost. It comes from places with dry summers and mild winters, and the New York Botanical Garden explains that this is why it flowers in the cool months and rests in summer. Indoors, a cyclamen keeps the same calendar: the marbled leaves and the flowers come from autumn to spring.

That changes everything. Cyclamen is not a tropical plant like most houseplants, and treating it like one (warmth, compost that never dries) is the quickest way to lose it.

Where should a cyclamen go?

Cyclamen wants cool air. The RHS suggests 15 to 18 °C, and Clemson University’s extension gives the same daytime figures, with cooler nights around 10 °C. Iowa State calls it the ideal flowering plant for a cool room. A living room with the heating on all day is nearly always too warm.

Good places for a cyclamen:

• A bright bedroom or hallway that stays on the cool side.
• An east-facing window, which the University of Wisconsin–Madison extension recommends.
• The sill of a lightly heated room, as long as it doesn’t freeze.

Keep it away from radiators, fires and warm air vents, and out of direct sun, which the RHS and Clemson warn can scorch the leaves. At the other extreme, cyclamen can’t take frost: cool does not mean a frozen balcony in January.

How do you water a cyclamen without rotting the tuber?

A cyclamen likes moist compost, never soggy, and the RHS says slightly too little water is safer than too much. Clemson advises watering once the compost feels dry to the touch. The real trick is where the water lands: the crown, where the leaves emerge, rots if it stays wet, as both Clemson and Wisconsin point out.

Two easy ways to water:

• Around the edge of the pot, using a can with a narrow spout, so the water goes onto the compost rather than the tuber or the leaves.
• From below: the New York Botanical Garden suggests standing the pot in a shallow dish of water and letting the plant take up what it needs. Then lift it out and let it drain; don’t leave it sitting there and forget about it.

How often depends on the light and the room. A brighter spot dries the compost faster:

Where it lives	In July	In January
East-facing window	3 days	6 days
South- or west-facing window	3 days	5 days
North-facing window	5 days	10 days
Hallway or corner with no window	7 days	14 days

Before you water, let your finger have the final say. If you’re never quite sure when the compost is dry, read how to tell if a houseplant needs water.

What about faded flowers?

Remove spent flowers and yellow leaves right at the base. The Wisconsin extension describes the knack: hold the stalk, give it a twist and pull, so it comes away cleanly from the tuber. A stub left behind can rot. Tidying a cyclamen like this helps it keep producing buds and lets air move around the leaves.

Why is my cyclamen turning yellow in winter?

In midwinter, a cyclamen that suddenly yellows is almost always too warm or too wet. Clemson notes that when it is too hot, the leaves start to yellow and the flowers fade quickly. Limp leaves and a dark, soft crown point more towards overwatering.

Check three things before changing everything:

• Is it near a heat source? Move it somewhere cooler.
• Is the compost always wet, or is there water in the saucer? Let it dry out and empty the saucer.
• Are you watering over the crown? Switch to the edge of the pot or from below.

If fuzz has appeared on compost that stays damp, see white mould on houseplant soil.

And once flowering ends?

In spring or early summer, cyclamen leaves yellow and die back. That isn’t necessarily a problem: it is the rest period the New York Botanical Garden describes, mirroring the dry summers of its homeland. Water less and less as it happens.

Sources disagree on the details: some say stop watering until new leaves appear, others keep the compost barely moist. Either way, the tuber spends the summer somewhere cool and shaded and starts growing again in late summer or autumn, when you can carefully resume watering. There are no guarantees, and plenty of people simply enjoy the plant while it flowers. In November most houseplants are winding down (they slow down in November), but cyclamen is one of the few just getting going.

Summary: cyclamen care

Care	What to do
Temperature	Cool (15 to 18 °C by day); no frost
Light	Bright and indirect; no direct sun
Watering	When the compost feels dry; from the edge or below
Crown	Always kept dry
Spent flowers	Twist and pull from the base
Yellow leaves in winter	Too warm or too wet
After flowering	Summer rest, with little or no water

Quick questions

Can a cyclamen live in a heated living room? It can, but it won’t last as long. Keep it away from the radiator and, if you have a cooler bright room, choose that instead.

Can I put my cyclamen outside in winter? In a sheltered, frost-free spot, yes. Bring it in on frosty nights.

Should I water from the top or the bottom? Either works, as long as no water lands in the centre of the plant. Bottom watering is the easiest way to make sure of that.

One cyclamen, one home

A cyclamen in a cool bedroom doesn’t drink at the same pace as one in a warm living room. In Verdejar you say where it lives and how much light it gets, and the app fits the watering to your home and reminds you when it’s time. For more festive ideas, see the best plants to decorate your home at Christmas and how to care for a poinsettia.

Sources: Royal Horticultural Society · Clemson Home & Garden Information Center · University of Wisconsin–Madison Extension · New York Botanical Garden · Iowa State University Extension. The days between waterings come from the Verdejar watering engine.