Night Soil

No. 12 Autumn 2025

plants · No. 12

The Quiet Life of the Hardy Cyclamen

Under the bare trees, the most civilised plant in the November garden opens its flowers.

Photograph accompanying this essay

Under the bare trees, the hardy cyclamen opens its flowers as if apologising for being beautiful so late in the year. It asks for almost nothing: shade, leaf mould, a little patience while it settles.

How to grow it, where it thrives, and why it deserves a place where you will pass it every day in the gloom of late autumn.

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