THE SECRET SIDE OF A CYCLAMEN ~ HAPPY MACRO MONDAY

Here in Houston the local garden shops bring us winter flowers that can bloom in the colder months. I wish I could afford a hundred cyclamens, but today I bought one. The cyclamen is a strange plant because as soon as it gets warm, it starts to die. If you keep it cool and bone dry all summer, you might get one to come back for a second year. It is from the Mediterranean area, so it is excited to grow in the winter when the rains come. It then goes dormant in the summer in its native habitat of Turkey and southward to Israel. Does anyone else grow cyclamens outdoors? I know they like good drainage.
Visit Lisa at http://lisaschaos.com/ to see the other Macros. She's our terrific host. Happy MM!

                                   on the surface

                                                  below the surface

                                               deep inside the cyclamen

                                           edge patterns look almost like they're made of liquid

All of this makes me wonder if Georgia O'keeffe ever painted a cyclamen. While she lived in New York, she would go to the local flower shops and buy a flower, then turn it into one of her gorgeous paintings. I have had the honor of seeing 3 of her original paintings here in Houston art museums. Her paintings are stunning.

Here's a Cyclamen growing wild in Israel. You can see why they like fast draining soil. (source: Wikipedia)