Plants: Cyclamen unleash a rare but welcome blaze of winter colour with real thrills and chills

Winter-flowering pansies are a cheerful addition to the garden during the darker months. These hardy bloomers will flower during mild spells and can be underplanted with small bulbs. Keep them going to by removing dead flowers and checking for signs of grey mould, removing any affected plants.

Is it worth shivering for the sake of happy houseplants? It’s a question I ask myself every year when the tender cyclamens are in bloom.

These are the big brothers of the small flowers that spread themselves under trees except that, unlike the outdoor varieties, the florist’s cyclamen isn’t frost-hardy. Yet the problem is that neither are they completely happy indoors, where they will soon wilt in the hot atmosphere.

If you love cyclamen, as I do, but don’t want to turn the thermostat down, then the solution is to find them somewhere cool yet protected where they will neither freeze nor cook.

A cold porch or conservatory is ideal and if your hallway gets reasonable amounts of light and isn’t too stuffy then cyclamen should be quite happy there.

Given the right atmosphere your plants will flower for many weeks, especially if you dose them with liquid feed every two weeks until the flowers start to fade.

However, what you should never do is water them from above as this could cause the tuber to rot. Instead, place the pot in a saucer of water and let it take up what it needs.

Most people treat cyclamen as annuals, but if you dry them off in late spring and re-pot them in September they can keep going for many years.

This is a good way to build up a collection. After all, why stop with one cyclamen when you could have dozens?

Take your pick from flower shades of white through pink to purple and keep a look out for varieties with frilled or perfumed flowers.

I like to mix my cyclamen with pots of forced of bulbs. If you want some inspiration then head for your nearest botanic garden where, in the cool greenhouses, displays of cyclamen are a regular feature in autumn.

If you do find the perfect spot for raising cyclamen at home, the chances are you will also be able to grow Sparmannia africana, otherwise known as the “indoor lime”.

This isn’t a true lime, so don’t get your hopes up for fruit, but the small white flowers that are produced all year round are very decorative and the plants themselves, which reach about 1.5m in height, form quite a feature if you have the space for one.