Cyclamen

There's a particular kind of magic that happens when you find cyclamen flowering under trees in October — these tiny, swept-back petals in shades of pink and white, appearing from apparently bare ground just as everything else is shutting down for the year.

'Hederifolium' is the hardy autumn species, and it's completely different from those plump, greenhouse cyclamen you see at garden centres in plastic pots. These are wild, delicate things — smaller flowers, exquisite ivy-shaped leaves patterned in silver, and a quiet toughness that lets them thrive in dry shade under deciduous trees.

I have a patch under an old beech tree and every September they appear, unannounced, like they've been thinking about it underground all summer. The flowers come first, before the leaves, which gives them this lovely nakedness — just these elegant little pink shuttlecocks rising from bare earth.

The leaves, when they finally arrive, are almost as beautiful as the flowers. Each one is different — marbled and patterned in silver and dark green, like hand-painted tiles. They persist through winter and into spring, which means this modest little plant earns its keep for about eight months of the year. For something that asks for almost nothing — no feeding, no watering, no fussing — that's a remarkable return.