We need a Fuchsia Forum!

And a Rough Silk also taken today.

hummer_girl, I think you like the hanging baskets! Very nice photos!
Are all of your fuchsias hanging baskets? How do you over-winter them?

I am definitely interested in a fuchsia forum. I have tried several times to grow fuchsias and they always die. I have just lost this years trial I guess. Do they die back in the heat of summer and come back out later? I'm not gonna throw away the pot yet like I usually do.

Beautiful pictures. The pansys look great with the fuchsias.

I too love fuchsias but I've had several die on me so I gave up. Would love to have some hanging baskets of them. Sparking up my interest again.

Those are Torenias in the basket with the fuchsias. Hummers like them also! I have trailing single flower Fuchsias in hanging baskets or pots hanging on trellises, 8 right now, but I lost 2 earlier this summer from over-watering, that's why I think Fuchsias need a sharp draining potting mixture to save them from those of us who are heavy-handed with the hose! I have uprights in large pots on the ground, (F. Gardenmeister), 4 of those. I have overwintered trailers once, and got a lot of aphids for my trouble. This year I am going to try over-wintering again, but trim the plants and repot in fresh soil so they don't bring anthing inside with them in the old soil, and put the plants in the garage, in a very cool place with grow lights, to discourage bugs from breeding! The coldest winter temps should be around 40-45 degrees.

Oh now I see them. They are still pretty. I once read and tried this and it works. Make a solution of water and lysol and drench your hanging baskets before you store them for the winter. I usually cut mine back to about six inch stem and remove all the leaves before storage. If you don't have a place indoors you can dig a trench in the dirt outside and bury them with dirt. I had a neighnor who did it that way every year. Said it was easier.

Such beautiful fuchsias, that lavender one is awesome. Is it me or the climate that can't seem to get together to make a fuchsia grow? Would love to have one, or two or three.

Thank you for the water/lysol solution.

I have a large gardening table set up in the garage, and on top there will a XL stand with grow lights attached. I am going to prune and repot any plants I want to save that cannot survive our winter and put them under grow lights. I have really large rectangular plastic pots that I am going to fill with garden soil and bury to the rim the individually potted over-wintering plants (cacti included). There will be drainage trays and I think everything will survive.

And for those who live in the really warm states, from what I have read you need to try Fuchsias that have a natural habitat in tropical climates that are hot and humid. Some Fuchsias come from higher elevations where it is much cooler and they cannot survive the heat and humidity of summer. Remember to not use white or black pots when potting, or plant inground. Keep the roots cool, and during the heat mist the plants, but only when they are not in the sun. Use a sharp draining potting mix, also, because Fuchsias do not like wet feet.

Now, I have a question for all of you. Does anyone know of any American authored books about Fuchsias? Everything I am coming across is written in England.

This message was edited Aug 31, 2009 4:58 PM

Ah, I will have to read up on fuchsias because I didn't know they had them for our tropical climate. Thanks Hummer-girl for sharing that info.

Another potting tip: If you line ceramic pots with large bubble wrap they won't freeze and break. The bubbles give the dirt some expansion room. A man who does all kinds of containers including bonsai gave that one at a demo.

Awesome tip!!

Yes, that IS a great tip! And I plan on doing some Magellanica bonsai next spring. I think the dainty little flowers are going to look nice. Magellanica gets a wonderful crumbly textured bark when it ages.

I want to do a Fuchsia bonsai, also. There is a Bonsai Show at the Missouri Bontanical Gardens on September 5th and 6th. I'm hoping someone will have a Fuchsia bonsai, or be knowledgable about growing one. I didn't even know you could do Fuchsia bonsai until last week. I have the perfect bonsai pots.

A couple years ago I wanted to try growing perennials in XL fiberglass pots. Even though the pots had thick sides, I used bubble wrap, double thickness with the bubbles facing inside creating an air pocket. It worked perfectly. Last year I took some of the plants (Penstemon and Agastache) out of the pots, separated them, and repotted but didn't use the bubble wrap. Still worked. But I never tried ceramic. Do you think bubble wrap inside terracotta would keep the pot from breaking? I have about a dozen 12" or larger pots I have to find storage for in the winter. If only I could leave them outside...

I would like to try a cold hardy Fuchsia in an XL pot and see if it could overwinter above ground.

A friend of mine in an area here in California where it gets very cold and snows, thought his Gartenmeister Bonstedt was dead. But just everything above ground had frozen. I showed him were new shoots were already hiding down under the leather fern fronds. It is now a couple of feet tall and in full bloom. So he gave me some cuttings to root.
The Northwest Fuchsia Society gives a star to extra hardy upright fuchsias that can survive without protection in some areas. Maybe if you tried one of those, but did protect it?

PedricksCorner, your image above of the tiny white and lavender blooms reminds me of the picture I took of a DG friend's fuchsia in Sebastopol. It was easily 8 ft tall. Would you be able to ID just from this shot by any chance?

Oh and yes, interested in a fuchsia forum.

I just ordered 8 fuchsia from Pedricks Corner so I definitely am interested in a fuchsia forum. Thank you for considering it Dave. Elaine

my f. gartenmeister just got all leggy & is dropping leaves. anyone know what could be doing it? i haven't done anything different than I've done all summer.

smileymom343: What's your weather been like? If it has been really hot it might have gone into what I call a holding period, where all growth slowes down until the temps fall below the 90s. I usually have that problem in July and August. All the blooms disappear. I water less frequently at that time. Mist the plant during really hot weather because moisture is lost through the leaves, which can cause wilting, but remember, only when the plant is in the shade. Also, if the plant has been getting too much water, a fungus could be happening.

Maybe PedricksCorner has a suggestion if it is a fungus. Repotting in a sharper draining mix after cleaning off the rootball? Maybe an anti-fungal treatment?

Calif_Sue: Maybe Grayrigg. Is your plant an upright? Grayrigg is a full-hardy upright.

One problem I have had with Fuchsias, isn't the plant, but the wholesale grower. There is only 1 nursery in my area that sells a large variety of Fuchsia, which isn't really that large, but at least they offer several different varieties. Anyway, the wholesaler they buy from uses those pellets to grow their stock in. You know those flat pods that expand with moisture. There is also like a netting around the pod and you are supposed to be able to use them for planting seeds or cuttings. Three years ago, a month after my Fuchsias were planted, they looked terrible. Like they were strangling. So I took one out of the pot and carefully removed the dirt from around the root ball. The net-pellet is strangling the plant. It's choking the crown and smothering the roots. Using a pair of scissors I snipped the edges of the netting, then proceeded (with my fingers) to tear away the netting anywhere I could see it. I gently fanned out what roots there were, then repotted in fresh potting mix. Two weeks later the plant looked like it was on steroids, it had grown so much. Now whenever I buy Fuchsias, I inspect the crown of the plant and the root ball, and free the plant from any bindings nature did not intend.

This message was edited Aug 27, 2009 1:02 PM

hummer_girl, thanks for that last post. great info! I didn't know fuchsias lost moisture through their leaves. Yet another reason for it's own forum!

My hardy lost all it's blooms during our 100+ weather and now it is completly full of blooms again. One branch also looked dead so I cut it off and when I got it out I could see it was already putting out new leaves. OH well.

I wouldn't want to try the bubble wrap with terra cotta pots. It does work for ceramic.

Geraniums are grown like that with the netting. The growers expect plants to die at the end of the season. (Or what they used to call geraniums) If you want to overwinter them be sure to check the roots.

Calif_Sue, yes your fuchsia does look like Magellanica alba, or Grayrigg. I haven't seen a Grayrigg in person, so it is hard to say. That is one of my major beefs with all of the photo sources I have seen so far. They all give a close-up of the flower, but not the foliage or then entire bush. And fuchsia leaves are as unique to each variety as their flowers are. If I could see the foliage, I could be more certain.
smileymom343, it is hard to say why your Gartenmeister is doing that without know what it's growing conditions are. Like is it in a pot or the ground? In the sun or the shade? Do you let it get dry or keep it wet? Have you fertilized it and if so, how often. Maybe you over fed it and burned the roots. It is so hard to tell without a photo and without details. So I hope you'll let us know a bit more about it.
I have never had to use an anti-fungal treatment on any of my fuchsias or even when I am starting them from cuttings. And those are purposely kept wet with a timed misting system. They are never allowed to sit in water though!
Basically, a fuchsia can handle the heat if it is on a large enough container to provide a root system big enough to deal with it and with quality potting mix.
In the ground, a general rule of thumb is that one can expect a healthy root system on almost every type of plant you see, to be at least the same mass as what you see above ground, sometimes twice the mass. Which is something to take into consideration when we try to grow things in containers.
Like hummer_girl mentioned, good drainage is a must. Fuchsias don't like to get dry, but they will rot right before your eyes if they are allowed to sit in water!! So you need both good drainage and a quality potting soil that will absorb the moisture and hold it for the plant.
I agree about those rooting pellets some nurseries use.

This shows a bit more of the tiny foliage but I'll be going to visit her again soon and see about taking more pictures.

Hey, Sue. I heard you were looking for this.

Hey Zuzu, great that you can add a shot of the bush! And see, there's a name for it now too. I love the 'tiny dancing ballerina' look of your fuchsia.

ZuZu/Calif_Sue: what did you decide the name of the Fuchsia is?

ZuZu, What a beauty your plant is!

Definitely yes we need a fuchia forum! They are so prettiful.

Dahlianut
aka the Forum Floozy

It looks exaclty like Magellanica alba to me. Even has the slight bluish tinge to the corolla I love so much. My hummingbirds love this one! I try to keep the lower branches trimmed away because the young and not-so-wise hummers will become so involved in going from flower to flower that they forget to keep an eye out for the neighbors cats. In the evening, it is this fuchsia and my Lycioides that they are all over before it gets too dark. And I agree, my neice calls these little flowers, "dancing ballerina fairies."

Pedrick, I wish it weren't so late in the summer. I have the perfect spot for the Magellanica alba and my HB's would love me it. We've had a real crowd of them this year. The dancing ballerina fairies analogy is so cute. That's exactly what they look like.

Pamgarden, if the nurseries in your area have upright fuchsias, they might be offering a good deal this time of year. If you get them cheap, you can try your hand at overwintering them without feeling too bad about it if they don't make it. Not like one you'd been enjoying all summer and gotten attached to, ya know?
I have never, ever tried to grow on indoors. The thought never even occured to me. Just as trying to grow fuchsias in cold places like yours never occured to me and I've been growing them for 27 years now. I was a bit shocked when I first joined DavesGarden and heard of fuchsias being grown as annuals that died at the end of the year!
So this winter, I am going to try it in a sunny spot at the back of the house. For some reason, I have always been certain they would get stringy and then rot. Now, trying to decide which one to try......

Yes
I would like to see a Fuchsia forum.
I don't know how much I can contribute but might enjoy 'Fuchsia Talk'
from time to time!

GardenGuyKin: your fuchsias are beautiful! What variety? I love the plant combination you used.

Thanks HG
The large purple leaf plant is Persian Shield.
The Fuchsia bottom middle is Flash
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/176494/
The Fuchsia on either side is Neon Tricolor
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/164276/

Oh my goodness Kin, love that last shot of your potted Flash, will have to look for that one now!

Thanks, Sue
Flash is one of my favs. this year as well as with others who saw her! LOL
Flash really puts on a show did pretty well in the heat. The blooms are small but profuse.

I am glad to say that even though the temps here today got up to 104, all of my fuchsias survived! Even the little guys! The flowers on some got singed pretty good, but then, so did all of my roses :-(
Glad to see you here GardenGuyKin!
I started two more threads, one in the Australian Forum and one in the European Forum, letting people there know about our efforts to get a fuchsia forum going for everyone everywhere! New Zealand has a pretty cool fuchsia society too! So I am hoping people from there might notice the Australian thread.
We will see! I put a link in to this thread and invited them to come and post!

Just got a note from Pedricks Corner to see if I would like a new forum on these. I think that is such a great idea. This year I have added probalby 10 more fuchsias to my collection. I just love them.

I picked up a Fuchsia book from the library, this one originally written in Dutch, translated into English with additions made. In this book the author mentions which plants are suitable for Bonsai, which is of interest to those of us who are thinking of planting a Fuchsia Bonsai:

Abbe Farges
Beacon
Beacon Rosa
Countess of Aberdeen
Display
Dollarprinzessin (Dollar Princess? I have seen that tag at a local nursery)
Galadriel
Genii
Lady Thumb
Larissa
Nellie Nuttall
Papoose
Tom Thumb

This information was taken from 1000 Fuchsias by Miep Nijhuis, originally published in the Netherlands. It has a lot of really great pictures, brief descriptions of the plants, lists of growing conditions (shade, sun, etc.), what’s suitable for baskets, standards, etc., breaks down the species and varieties in color groups if you garden with a color scheme.

This message was edited Aug 31, 2009 4:42 PM