The cyclamen plant was also used medically to treat depression and the tubers were even fed to pigs, hence the common name, "pig bread." With the proper care, it now makes a terrific indoor or outdoor plant.
How to care for the plant indoors
Place your indoor cyclamen plants in a sunny window in a room where the temperatures are cool at night. Water only after the soil dries out and the pot is light weight. Deadhead the spent flowers all winter.
Then, by early summer, let the pot dry out and the leaves die. This is the natural resting time for cyclamens. Place it in cool, dark place all summer and start watering again in fall to stimulate growth and flowering.
If aphids or mites infect your plants, cut back the foliage to the tuber. The plant will re-grow.
This week's tip: Do a seed germination test now before ordering new seeds. If you're germination percentage is below 70%, buy new seeds. If you use the old seeds, plant more than normal to account for the lower germination.
