Over the years, the large-flowered Persian cyclamen has become an established favourite, appearing in the shops and garden centres around this time. It appears now because it naturally comes into flower late in the year.

The kind known as florist’s cyclamen, with large flowers, is strictly an indoor plant. There are other forms that are outdoor kinds, flowering in early autumn or spring with small flowers.

The large-flowered kind has been crossed with the outdoor species to give quite hardy forms that are used a lot in autumn and winter bedding. But the large flowered Christmas cyclamen has different requirements.

The flowers are very distinctive: the petals are reflexed, turned back upright, with the centre of the flower at the lowest point, which gives the flowers an attractive nodding appearance.

A tap of a finger will often release pollen, and some kinds have a sweet scent. The flowers are held well clear of the leaves, grouped in the centre of the leaf rosette.

Each flower arises as a small bud on the central disc of the tuber and pushes up through the leaf cover, the flower bud elongating as the stem grows. The colour range is red, red-purple, pink and white, with various shades available.

Flower forms have been selected with wavy-edged petals, frilly petals and petals delicately edged with red or white, as well as smooth-edged petals.

Although the flowers are the most attractive part of the plant, the leaves contribute too. Broadly heart-shaped to rounded, they are held relatively flat on short stems in a rosette over the tuber, which pushes half-way out of the compost.

The leaves are generally marked with silvery veins or veins of dark green or light green in contrast to the colour of the leaves. The pattern varies between plants – no two are the same – and often the combination of white or pink flowers and silvery markings is very pretty. The flower and leaf stalks are light red-purple, and this nicely sets off the leaves and flowers.

Cyclamen plants sometimes suffer a set-back before they are brought home. Purchase only plants that have been treated properly in the retail supply chain. The plants are raised in glasshouses and are used to gentle warmth, a cool room temperature.

They are hardened off at slightly lower temperatures before sale, to leave them in good condition for transporting. However, if they are chilled in store or denied light for a significant time, they can react badly by flopping or becoming drawn and lanky, and this might not be visible at purchase but emerges later. The fleshy leaf stems collapse and the flower stems too, although these are actually more durable than the leaf stalks. It is not unusual to see a cyclamen plant with the flowers standing and the leaves collapsed.

Ideally, a potted cyclamen should be placed in a cool room in good light and be watered just enough to keep the compost moist, but not enough to rot the roots, and never left standing in a saucer of water.

After the plant finishes flowering, and it has not collapsed, it grows for a while and then the leaves start to yellow and the plant can be allowed to slowly enter summer dormancy, by watering very little. In late summer or autumn, when new growth appears, begin watering and feeding again, but do not over-wet the compost. Although the plants sold are all hybrids, raised from seed sown in April for Christmas flowering, sometimes the plants set seeds themselves, in rounded seed pods, and these can be sown in late summer to raise new plants.