I started clearing away the Christmas decorations from the conservatory and was hit by the gorgeous scent of the Hyacinths on the big table.  They were actually bought by mistake for the previous Christmas as they were labelled as ‘red’ and as you can clearly see they are pink.  I potted them up early and left them in a cool dark place until I saw the tops poking though the soil.  Then I brought them into the light in order to have them flowering for Christmas but the conservatory may have been a bit too cold for them so the flowers just popped up but didn’t open.  They are flowering happily now so I have colour and scent on a dreich Scottish winter’s day.  The red Cyclamen I have had for many years.  I let it have a wee rest during the summer them I wake it up again for the autumn, winter and spring.  The old tuber is huge and very craggy looking (I will measure it once the leaves are all off) but it does very well every year.  Sometimes I re-pot it but at other times it just gets a bit of top dressing.  It has coped well over the years with the various bugs that have attacked it so I hope it keeps going for many more.  I don’t normally leave the flowers to go to seed but I did for one or two and got quite a few baby cyclamen from it so now some of my friends and pals can enjoy it too.

Hyacinth

Cyclamen