Three for Thursday: A Tale of Three Cyclamens

Three Cyclamen atop 'Table with Legs'

In a search for pink skullcap a few weeks ago, I wandered the aisles of a large local garden center, one whose red and yellow striped awnings are ubiquitous in the greater Houston area. I don't visit this chain's stores more than a handful of times in a year, preferring to support small local nurseries with knowledgeable staff who are themselves gardeners and nursery stock that comes from local growers. As it turned out, neither my usual haunts nor the big box garden center had pink skullcap.  What I did find at the latter were rows and rows of annual Cyclamen.  Garden plantings of these exotic beauties are a familiar sight in Houston gardens from November through February; while I don't participate in the mass planting exercise, I do enjoy seeing their bright blooms nodding above the striking foliage.  It was the foliage which compelled me to bring home three white Cyclamen from the BBGC and to share them with you as this week's Three for Thursday.  The pictures speak for themselves and it's appropriate that today is also Foliage Follow-Up, Pam at Digging's meme celebrating the beauty and intricacies of foliage.