Deep purple ballet Fuchsias dance across your patio

THEY often resemble tiny ballerinas and fuchsias are a fantastic choice for pots.

There are literally hundreds of stunning hybrid varieties to choose from, which have two-tone flowers that come in a kaleidoscope of colours from the deepest purple to the palest of pinks and white.

Fuchsia flowers vary greatly between petal-packed doubles and more refined semi- doubles to teardrop-shaped singles, which have just four petals.

To appreciate the blooms and especially when they dance on the breeze, grow the trailing or cascading forms hanging baskets so they can be viewed at eye level.

Plant bushy types in pots and borders or give them a few nips and canes for support to train them into an impressive fan or pyramid. You can use the trimmings as cuttings to extend your displays and also to make a standard fuchsia.

Upright-growing varieties, such as the pink and white Celia Smedley, the double-flowered pink and lavenderblue Winston Churchill and white-flowered Hawkshead are good for the job.

Pinching

The idea is to grow a tall, straight stem anything from 30-100cm with a bushy head, so in the first year, keep the young plant tied into a cane and nip out all side shoots.

Don’t remove those leaves that are growing directly from the main stem, as these will be used to naturally feed the plant with energy made from sunlight.

When the ideal stem length is reached, pinch out the growing tip to encourage side shoots and allow quite a few of these to develop before removing the leaves on the stem. Plants will now be ready for “pinching”. Taking out the growing tip will force side shoots to be produced and repeat pinching once shoots have developed six or seven pairs of leaves will create a bushy, well-rounded head that for years to come will be laden with flowers all summer-long.

Sunshine and showers is perfect fuchsia growing weather. They perform best in shelter and pale coloured and double blooms need more shade than red, single blooms, which thrive in sunshine.

Throughout summer, feed plants every seven to 10 days with Phostrogen Tomato Food, which encourages flowers without promoting excessive sappy growth.

Always remove yellow and damaged leaves promptly and watch out for pests and diseases. Bring plants indoors for winter - sub-zero temperatures will kill them.