Cyclamen around Lago di Garda

[Thomas Huber]

Great you enjoy my photos!

Johannes, there are no photos of white flowering purpurascens  
While walking through the dark woods I often saw white flowers from
the distance, but coming closer they emerge as fading flowers, losing
their colour  

Cohan, the Garda plants don't get much frost I guess, but it's always
worth a try. In my own garden the last hard winter (-24°C) was survived
by: hederifolium, coum, purpurascens, colchicum, intaminatum, pseudibericum,
trochopteranthum, cilicium and even mirabile and graecum are still alive.
Give them a sheltered place near a wall and hope for good snowcover  

For those who are interested, I have some more impressions from around the lake:

- 11: Nightview of the lake
- 04: Lago di Tenno
- 27: On the beach in Riva
- 12: Waterfall 14 meters high
- 49: Exploring the canyon - barefoot!
- 21: Chris relaxing on the lake - the belly is still white  
- 27: View on the lake from 1000m
- 09: Church of Montecastello

[Thomas Huber]

And the last batch:

- 52: Monte Baldo view from Passo di Tremalzo
- 74: After a rainy night the air was so clear that we could even see the Apennin
- 18: Another Monte Baldo view, watch the XXL-view if you have a good screen
- 23: Chris and Celine on Monte Baldo
- 42: Best place for reading lessons I can imagine
- 44: Last plant photo before my photo batteries were empty
- 62: View from the ferry Malcesine-Limone northwards
- 45: Arena in Verona
- 69: Celine somewhat damaged

[Maggi Young]

Oh dear, just  when we are relaxing with the beautiful scenery.... here is poor Celine.... more than somewhat damaged    ........ I was thinking in the photo where she and Chris are climbing on the rocks by the waterfall that this could lead to a fall......  

[Thomas Huber]

Oh dear, just  when we are relaxing with the beautiful scenery.... here is poor Celine.... more than somewhat damaged    ........ I was thinking in the photo where she and Chris are climbing on the rocks by the waterfall that this could lead to a fall......  

Maggi, it looks dangerous, but the waterfall climb was made without damage.
Celine's wounds result from 4 accidents in different places 

[Maggi Young]

Celine's wounds result from 4 accidents in different places

That sounds just like me when I was little! 

[ranunculus]

I bet chocolate made them better!

Super images Thomas. Thanks once again.

[Ragged Robin]

What a gorgeous looking place and the weather looks perfect for a family holiday - did you swim in the lake?

[Thomas Huber]

What a gorgeous looking place and the weather looks perfect for a family holiday - did you swim in the lake?

Yes, of course we were swimming in the Garda Lake, it was warm and refreshing, especially Lago di Tenne, where
I was the only one from the Hubi family swimming (~15°C). 14 days of sunshine with just one rainy night
was more than we have expected.

Cliff, Chocolate might have helped Maggi, but not Celine - she's not a Choco-girl.

[cohan]

Great you enjoy my photos!
Cohan, the Garda plants don't get much frost I guess, but it's always
worth a try. In my own garden the last hard winter (-24°C) was survived
by: hederifolium, coum, purpurascens, colchicum, intaminatum, pseudibericum,
trochopteranthum, cilicium and even mirabile and graecum are still alive.
Give them a sheltered place near a wall and hope for good snowcover  

thanks for the input,thomas..
quite possibly the hardy purpurascens are from colder places;
the other species suggested  for coldest places are coum and hederifolium, but, from the experiences of others, they sound pretty doubtful for my area--maybe sometime i will try in pots that i put in a shed or something for winter..
unfortunately, -24C would be a very mild winter here

[johnw]

Cohan  - Cyclamen purpurascens is the hardiest of all the cyclamen here. The pure silver-leafed forms are rather cranky and must be situated perfectly.  C. hederifolium is so-so - I had hundreds of them seeding everywhere and one snowless dry winter (low around -17c) took them out; the oldest corm reappeared 7 years later with one huge leaf.  C. coum is hopeless long term; kuznetzovii we are hoping will fill the gap though other says coum var. caucasicum might be better.  C. repandum and cilcicum lived for a few years.

I blame winter wet and especially bad are winters with little rain or snowcover - the ground temperature can really plummet when the soil is dry.

C. purpurascens just started flowering here about 10 days ago.

johnw

[cohan]

Cohan  - Cyclamen purpurascens is the hardiest of all the cyclamen here. The pure silver-leafed forms are rather cranky and must be situated perfectly.  C. hederifolium is so-so - I had hundreds of them seeding everywhere and one snowless dry winter (low around -17c) took them out; the oldest corm reappeared 7 years later with one huge leaf.  C. coum is hopeless long term; kuznetzovii we are hoping will fill the gap though other says coum var. caucasicum might be better.  C. repandum and cilcicum lived for a few years.

I blame winter wet and especially bad are winters with little rain or snowcover - the ground temperature can really plummet when the soil is dry.

C. purpurascens just started flowering here about 10 days ago.

johnw

tks, john..it was your comments previously, and lori's, that made me doubt hederifolium..we usually have good snow cover in mid winter, but it can  easily get to -20 or -30 before the snow comes...

[Thomas Huber]

unfortunately, -24C would be a very mild winter here

Cohan, I suspected you have deeper temperatures, how deep ??

And I think without snow cover my plants would not have survived so well.

[cohan]

unfortunately, -24C would be a very mild winter here

Cohan, I suspected you have deeper temperatures, how deep ??

And I think without snow cover my plants would not have survived so well.

thomas--we can have as low as around -45, although thats not common--but usually a couple of times we get to/near -40, and -30 for some days at a time, and lots of -20's--daytime too, not just for a short time at night; worse, its a long cold season-this year we have had frost in every month! although nothing was damaged here, not too far away, people had tomatoes freeze in early june(usually not safe before that, but this was late, this year!) and even in late june, people had beans freezing; i picked a safe spot i guess for my vegetable garden (just started this year)--nothing frozen since late may, but tomatoes are not making any fruit either! very little hot weather this year....
we can have very serious frosts in september, even late august--last year my new sempervivums closed up by september...

our snow cover is usually good in midwinter for the very coldest weather, but as i mentioned to john, it can be very cold already before we get lasting snow, often well into december..

[arillady]

Thomas,
Interesting that you measured the PH. Do you always do that? It would help many of us if the PH was mentioned more often in plant requirements.

[Thomas Huber]

OK, Cohan, -45° could be called "very cold". The -24° we had here last winter were not the
standard winter temperatures (-10°).  However, give purpurascens a try or you will never know.

Pat, I often have my ph-meter with me when travelling, and if I think of it I measure the soil.
Will keep your wish in mind, when I'm posting photos from my plant journeys next time.