Hi TT and welcome to GoY is your cyclamen a house plant or a hardy variety for the garden? The cyclamen society has a lot of good advice... copy and paste the link below into your web browser

http://www.cyclamen.org/faq.htm

If it is an outdoor cyclamen, Tt, I hope that one of your fellow countrymen can come to your aid. My impression is that the whole of Australia has hot dry summers that I am not used to gardening in.[of course, you do get massive floods as well as forest fires]
If it is a florists cyclamen, Cyclamen persicum, then these are native to Cyprus, and othe Mediteranean countries, where they grow in poor soil and in rocky clefts. They get a hot dry summer and a cooler and, hopefully, wet winter. They naturally grow in limestone soils and not in peat.

Interesting Bulbaholic as mine have always flourished on a north windowsill standing on a saucer of damp gravel for a humid atmosphere. They have flowered all through the year with short breaks, and lasted for years. Is there another kind that grows naturally in these conditions?

I had a look at a couple of Oz sites for gardens and they seem to be of the opinion that they (Cyclamen coum and Cyclamen hederifolium) do well if - a shady spot under a deciduous tree with organic-rich soil and positioned in well-drained soil - can be found.

I think they are lovely plants. Another for the list headed - Must get some more!

They grow naturally here, with our very cold winters and very, very hot dry summers. We have an alkaline soil and they seem to thrive, but do appreciate a bit of shade. They are basically a woodland plant. I think Moongrower is right though, the large-flowered Florists' cyclamen will not survive outside if you get cold winters, and can rot quite quickly.

Interesting that you see them as a woodlander, Gattina. On Cyprus (ten long months ago) most of the ones that we saw were growing in very exposed habitats. Many parts of Australia have a Mediteranean, and even hotter, climate.

We actually have "cyclamen woods" here, Bulba, and in springtime, under the trees (not very heavily shaded, admittedly) the ground is a mass of glorious pink, and the subject of many families' daytrips, much like bluebells in the UK. We have them here in our garden, too, (cyclamen, not day trippers!) and the ones that are growing in the shade of rose bushes or the cherry trees seem to cope better with the very high summer temperatures (Every bit as hot as Australia). Maybe there are different subspecies?

Are yours Cyclamen persicum though? or are they C comb or C hederifolium which are woodlands.

Ah, well, now, Moongrower, you have to bear in mind you are speaking to a complete cyclamen idiot here: I would have expected C. hederifolium to have ivy-shaped leaves, which I don't think they have, but I shall go out at first light to check! All I know is that some were already here in the garden when we arrived, and others we have bought on market stalls and have planted ourselves, and they are indistinguishable one from another.

Well ,there are only 17 species to choose from and one of those is not in cultivation.

Could be any of them then... C. persicum growing wild does not produce the huge flowers the florists specimens do but will not, to my knowledge, grow as woodlander. Back last March when Bulba and I were in Cyprus they were all growing in poor soil in full sun and that is how we've always seen them grow in the Med.

Here in Arizona, we mainly grow C. persicum outdoors in the shade, and allow it to go dry and dormant in the summer. They recover in the fall, and are usually back in full bloom by late January. We don't normally grow them as indoor plants, since they like it uncomfortably cool during their growing season.