South American Plants - Fuchsia

Name – There are thousands of different types of fuchsia, all of which were bred from a handful of wild species found in Mexico and South America. The first fuchsia to be named was F. triphylla, which was found in the Dominican Republic, probably around the end of the 17th century. The discoverer, Father Charles Plumier, was a French Franciscan monk and botanist who named the plant after Leonhart Fuchs, a 16th-century German doctor and herbalist.

Description - Colours vary from pinks, purples, whites and reds to many multicoloured mixtures . All fuchsia flowers have three parts which are the upper tube, the sepals beneath which will tend to furl out like wings, and the corolla – which is the skirt-like growth underneath the sepals. Each part of the blossom may be different colour.

Origin – The fuchsias divide into two basic categories the hardy ones that can be left outside all year – including the ones that make good hedges and the tender kind, which may either be bushy or upright and grown in pots, or dangling, trailing plants for hanging baskets.

Growing hardy fuchsias – best planted in spring, with the roots slightly deeper than usual, to offer extra protection during winter. In colder districts place them at the foot of a sunny, sheltered wall in well-drained soil, and provide winter protection. Prune hardy fuchsias strongly each spring, leaving about eight to twelve inches of shoots – the new growth will be highly flowered. Plants grown as hedges are less severely pruned, although a portion of the old wood should always be removed.

Growing tender plants - the majority of tender fuchsias are prone to frost damage but can be grown outside from June to early autumn, at which point they will need to be taken into a frost-free greenhouse over-winter. If you buy young plants, remember to pinch out young shoots regularly to encourage bushiness, but this isn’t waste, because the young shoots can be used as cuttings to make new plants. Stop pinching out after late spring or you will only postpone the flowering. In early September reduce the watering to let the older wood mature – by October, the plants should be kept almost dry. Now you need to take them into the greenhouse and remove any remaining leaves and stop watering. Don't prune until next spring when new shoots will begin to grow from the base and all the older wood can be removed. Re-pot immediately after pruning.

South American fuchsia photograph by bc anna, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

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