Q. Our cyclamen has flowered spectacularly well over the winter and early spring. Are more flowers in the offing or should we be doing something else?

A. Don’t trash your cyclamen as many people do when the plant stops flowering. You have many more years of winter blossoms on the plant, so you need to adjust your care program now as the plant prepares to go dormant.

First, for most cyclamen, the flowering season generally ends in early April. March blossoms lose their petals, so you grip the stem of the old flower and jerk upward with some force. The stem severs near the neck of the bulb as it should. If your flowers seem to linger, don’t worry. Soon enough, they will drop their petals, then you can sever the stem.

By mid-April or so, cyclamen no longer is capable of making flowers, so the plant is preparing to go dormant for the spring and early summer.

Having pruned the last flowering stems, help the plant go dormant by cutting back on how often you water the plant. While the plant flowered, you were keeping the soil lightly moist at all times, but now you let the soil go moderately dry between waterings. For the next four weeks after the flowers stop, water every 10 days with tepid water. Flood the pot with water, let it drain, then return the plant to its former location. Keep a record when you water during this April-to-May timetable. Reduced watering will soon take its toll on the plant as leaves go from green to pale green to yellow, then brown. By mid-May, all leaves will have died. Use a sharp pruner or kitchen knife and cut remove everything, cutting back to the neck of the bulb. That’s it!

Record-keeping is a must with cyclamen so you know when to withhold water and when to irrigate. Having pruned the dead foliage, set the plant in a cool room with indirect sunlight, and stop watering for four weeks. On a calendar, mark the date you stop watering and when you are supposed to water the next time. When you water, flood the pot with warm water, let it drain, then move the potted cyclamen outdoors.