Hardy Fuchsias
When I sell my fuchsias at shows or at talks I give, I can be sure that many of the prospective buyers will asked for hardy ones. So let me first explain to you what I always tell them. Hardy fuchsias are only considered hardy if planted in the ground. Even the so called hardy varieties will not be certain to come through a bad winter if they are grown in pots or baskets. So what determines if a fuchsia is hardy or not? The British Fuchsia Society produces a list of hardy fuchsias. To get onto the list, a fuchsia has to have survived at least five consecutive winters and produced flowers each summer. The list can change and gardeners contact them with names of fuchsias they have found to be hardy. Now with the winters becoming so mild, even many of the plants considered to be tender are surviving. Fuchsias come in virtually every colour and colour combination except yellow. Unfortunately most of those that are in the hardy list are the ones with red sepals and mauve corolla. There are a few exceptions and I will bring these up in the article.
To my mind you can't grow wrong with hardy fuchsias. Compact forms are a valuable addition to a small garden, offering flowers all summer. 'Alice Hoffman' grows into a compact plant. The leaves are bronze coloured and is one of the exceptions with small flower petals that are white with rose veining. Red tubes complete the picture. 'Lady Thumb' is a delicate grower, only reaching 20in. high, with a similar spread, and is ideal for the rockery or the front of the border. The blooms are made up of small, pinky‑white petals and reddish‑pink tubes. This is a sport of Tom Thumb', which produces the same small flowers, this time with red tubes and sepals and mauve-­pink petals. 'Grumpy' Makes a neat bush with the normal red sepals and mauve-blue corolla. It has friends called ‘Sleepy’, Happy’ and ‘Sneezy’, which unfortunately are rather similar in colour. 'Lena', although really a trailing plant to my mind, is classed as hardy. The flowers are double, with pale pink sepals and tube, and pink­ flushed purple petals. 'Genii' is a beauty and grows slightly bigger to 5ft. high with a spread of 30in. The leaves are golden-­green and this makes up for the flowers which are cerise reddish‑purple petals and cerise-red tubes. ‘Mrs Popple' is the number one choice of many gardeners. Plants can quickly reach the height of 5ft. (1.5m) with a spread of 30in. The flowers are made up of purple petals and red inner tubes. But even this is outgrown by 'Phyllis', growing to nearly 7ft high and 4ft. across, the blooms have rose‑red tubes and sepals, crimson petals. If you want a fuchsia hedge, then try Fuchsia magellanica var. molinae 'Sharpitor'. It has cream and light green leaves, purple petals and red tubes. Fuchsia magellanica is the hardiest fuchsia species, and are the ones you see as hedges down in Cornwall or in Ireland. If you really want something big to grow then go for magellanica alba, a lovely delicate white-pink bloom, But with a growth of up to 25ft in 2 years. Finally there is 'Brutus', growing to 5ft., with red and purple blooms. There are of course many more and the best way to find them is to study one of the many fuchsia catalogues that will be around next spring.
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