Now that winter's gray, lifeless days are here, it's time to start thinking of ways to add color to your garden. What I miss most during winter is flowers in the yard. But I found an answer to those dull winter landscape doldrums.

Potted cyclamens in cheerful shades of white, pink, rose, magenta and red line the shelves in grocery stores and nursery centers in late fall. Some people think their colorful flowers resemble shooting stars, while they remind others of butterflies. How many of you have bought one or two, placed it on your porch, and then thrown it away in the summer when it died back? Did you know that the cyclamen is a bulb that will grow year after year? And did you realize that cyclamen can also be grown in the landscape? I didn't, until one of those accidental mishaps that Mother Nature is so fond of providing for us.

I've always bought one or two potted cyclamen plants each fall for my front porch. Then one day I noticed this foliage growing up against the porch railing. I couldn't quite figure out what plant it was until it started to bloom. Apparently one of the cyclamen from the porch had set seed, and now I have a whole row of cyclamen plants growing at the base of my porch.

Now I'm on a mission to add cyclamen all over the yard. Their cost is a little prohibitive for me. Each potted plant will cost you upwards of $3.50 each, and the cost of the bulbs from mail order sources seems to be about the same. But the good thing about cyclamen is that since they are a bulb, they will return year after year, plus if you plant them in the yard, there's a good chance they will set seed and multiply eventually. So I'm taking it slow. Each year I buy five or six plants, and hopefully in another couple of years, I'll have a yard full of color during those drab winter days. Last year for Christmas I planted red and white cyclamen in a corner of the yard where I could enjoy their bright spots of color from the windows of my living room when the weather was dismal.

I think the foliage of cyclamen is attractive on its own. Each plant forms a basal clump of heart-shaped dark green leaves with silver veining. Their small size makes them perfect to plant under trees or large shrubs where they'll be protected from the afternoon sun.

Cyclamen are prolific bloomers. Each mature plant can send out as many as thirty 1" long-lasting blooms at a time. They usually bloom during late fall and spring, although I've found that during a mild winter, they'll often bloom for most of the season.

Cyclamen are versatile plants and remarkably easy to grow. I've found them to be resistant to most pests. Another added plus for those of you living in the foothills is that they are not attractive to deer.

Here's some tips on how to care for your cyclamen plants: