As summer gently turns into autumn many perennials are at their peak whereas others are starting to fade. Soon lush, billowing borders will be on the wane and now’s the time to look down at ground level for some little gems that spring back to life with late summer rain. Perhaps tucked around the base of a tree, or peeping through ferns in a shady corner, you’ll find the delicate looking flowers of Cyclamen hederifolium.

Cyclamen hederifolium are tuberous, summer dormant plants with flowers that emerge in late August and continue throughout September. They are hardy and very tolerant of dry shade. Flowers can be white or shades of pink. After the flowers come the leaves prettily marbled with silver patterns. Some have been bred especially for their foliage, like ‘Silver Cloud’ with pure silver leaves.

Although delicate looking flowers, cyclamen will push their way through pretty tough foliage like this Cotoneaster horizontalis.

Buy them now as plants in flower or plant tubers with the rounded usually smooth side down, shallowly in humus-rich, fertile soil. Apply a mulch of well-rotted leaf mould around the crown of the plants in spring as the foliage starts to die back. If they’re happy, they will set seed and before you know it, you’ll have a carpet of these little beauties.

Cyclamen propel their seed into the air after flowering and plants can end up appearing in tiny nooks.