Although perhaps more popular as a potted plant than an outdoor ornamental in North America, cyclamen are valued for their brilliantly colored petals as well as their variably patterned leaves.

These cyclamen in scarlet, deep magenta and shocking pink are indeed potted plants, spotted in an Israeli supermarket last month by our photographer.

They’re probably Cyclamen persicum — which are not frost hardy (that’s the variety most often sold by florists). If you want to plant ’em outdoors, and your weather is mild enough — like, say, in the Pacific Northwest or the United Kingdom’s Scilly Isles — ask for Cyclamen purpurascens, Cyclamen hederifolium, Cyclamen coum or Cyclamen cilicium.

(Photo ©2012 Susan McKee)