Cyclamen blooms, home

A couple of weeks ago, the Hardy Cyclamens unexpectedly came out of dormancy and started to bloom. They were so late this year that I feared they had fallen victim to last year's fierce winter and the subsequent significant drought. Perhaps 2015 was going to be a year without a cyclamen. Perhaps they weren't quite so hardy, after all. But, as a former President once said, I misunderestimated them. In its native habitat throughout Europe, from the rocky Mediterranean coast to the Bulgarian hillsides up to about 4,000 feet, Cyclamen hederifolium is one tough survivor. If it can handle Zone 4 in upstate New York, our relative Banana Belt climate is hardly a challenge.  So it came up, albeit a bit late, and once above ground, it quickly got down to business and, so far, has made at least a couple dozen blossoms. A significant frost failed to slow it down, and with Indian Summer now in place for the foreseeable future, we'll continue to have a taste of Europe in the garden for day, maybe weeks. Hardy, indeed.