THE FUTURE’S FUCHSIA
These cherished beauties put on a colourful show all summer long
ASK anyone to name ten great garden plants and you can bet a dollar to a doughnut that fuchsias will be included. they may lack the romance of the rose and they’re not as classical as lilies, but these South American shrubs are cherished by gardeners.
About 2,000 fuchsia varieties are commercially available in Britain . But if you add enthusiasts’ collections and those sold in other countries, that figure jumps to 12,000.
You can buy them anywhere but specialists Roualeyn ( roualeynfuchsias.co.uk) or Potash nursery ( potashnursery.co.uk) will carry a wider selection. And there are cuttings from gardening friends.
Most fuchsias flower all summer. they’re easy to propagate — my granddaughter rooted her first cuttings when she was seven — and they’ll thrive in sun or part shade. they are looking their best now and i f you plant some immediately, you’ll have six to eight weeks left to enjoy them. But remember that they’ll need protection for the winter unless you buy the hardiest of varieties.
the flowers always have four colourful sepals, joined at their bases to form a tube. these enclose petals — the corolla — which usually contrast in colour.
the classiest varieties have slim flowers that hang like elegant earrings. Others have ballet skirt blooms with ruffled petals. Most f uchsias are perfect f or pot culture. they respond to regular feeding by producing vigorous shoots which flower constantly.
FROU-FROU PETALS
GROWth habits vary f r om pendulous to upright.
trailing varieties, i deal f or window boxes, include Auntie Jinks — a beauty with pale sepals and plum-purple corollas.
Ruby Wedding, a symphony in red has frou- frou petals, but Cascade has narrow, f l ushed sepals and rich red corollas. Among upright kinds for big pots, I’d grow rose pink and white Mrs Lovell Swisher, just for the name.
But if you prefer your fuchsia flowers to face outwards and upwards, try the rose-red and white nellie nuttall.
Some varieties grow l eggy, especially in shade. But you can neutralise that by pinching back the shoots in spring. the plants respond by producing denser growth with more flower.
their wood can be disappointingly brittle, too. But if you break branches, or if a child rides his bike into your best specimen, don’t despair. Prune away the broken bits and give an extra feed. Regrowth will be speedy.
TOUGH GUYS
LOtS of fuchsias are hardy enough to leave outside all year. they won’t tolerate frozen roots, so winter pots need warm lagging. But if planted in a bed in a sunny spot, they’ll last for decades.
the Magellan Straits’ fuchsia, F. magellanica, produces narrow red and damson-blue flowers almost all year in mild counties. But in my Lincolnshire garden, the branches get so frost-whacked that it’s best to cut them to the ground every March.
Wild F. magellanica is a modestly pretty shrub. But the plumper flowered Riccartonii, ghostly hawkshead and soft pink Whiteknights Pearl are gorgeous and hardy alternatives.
Some larger-flowered hybrids are also hardy. Mrs Popple — scarlet and dark purple — survives any weather as does the rose madder and lilac tennessee Waltz.
though usually healthy, fuchsias are susceptible to vine-weevil — controllable with nematode products such as nemasys. You can also treat compost with Bayer Provado Vine Weevil Killer.
A more recently introduced pest — Fuchsia gall mite — can be devastating. It’s caused by a sapsucking mite, Aculops fuchsiae, and causes hideous disfiguration of young shoots. there’s no cure so it’s best to destroy affected plants immediately.
Problems like these are few, though. Fuchsias are happy-golucky plants which will give you enjoyment year after year.