Ann Whitman writes in Gardener's Journal, the blog at Gardener's Suppy, that cyclamen need a replicated version of their Mediterranean climate and they will bloom for a couple months -- just long enough to get us to daffodils.

"They thrive in cool temperatures that drop as low as 40 degrees F. atnight and rise into the 60s during the day. Place them close to a bright south-, east- or west-facing window for maximum sunlight," she writes.

My house is cold enough to hang meat in the winter - thanks to BG&E and deregulation -- and I am guessing that watering, specificially over-watering, is my problem. It usually is.

According to Whitman, we should let our cyclamen get dry, but not to the point of wilting. Lift the pot and it should feel light. Then a thorough watering, and an equally thorough draining of excess water, until the next time the pot feels light.

Marie Iannotti, who writes a gardening blog for about.com, says humidity is key, and she advises keeping cyclamen on a tray pebbles filled with water, being careful not to let the cyclamen sit in the water. Some houseplant fertilizer every week is a good idea, too, she writes.

Whitman advises us to remove spent flowers by cutting the stems near the base of the plant. Remove any seed capsules that fall and any yellow or withered leaves, she says.

And something more I didn't know about cyclamen. If I keep them in a cool dry place for the summer, and the tubers remain hard and plump, they will rebloom. Don't water during this period, or the tubers will rot.

All I have to do is place them in a cool bright window in the fall and begin watering again, although Iannotti says repotting the plant might be a good idea.

So there you have it: how not to kill your cyclamen.

S'cuse me. I have to get to the grocery store.