Add colour to your garden (Hardy Fuchsia)

Member Name: January

Product:	Hardy Fuchsia
Date:	30/04/06 (1754 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Amazing colours available

Disadvantages: Will attract bee's

Hardy fuchsia

There is something particularly exquisite about the fuchsia, to me it is a sign of the summer. It is a spectacular plant which adds colour and attracts the bee’s and butterflies into the garden.
There are lots of varieties of fuchsia to choose from and they can be grown as a shrub, a bush , as a hedgerow, or in pots and greenhouses. They also make an attractive hanging basket too.

The flowers of the fuchsia looks like a tubular shaped flower which opens at the end into four spreading sepals and four overlapping petals which form a bell at the bottom of the bloom, this makes it such an attractive plant, as there are different shades and colours to choose from, when deciding which type to grow. I have a huge fuchsia bush outside in my garden which spans about five feet wide and grows to about four feet high, it never fails to blossom in the summer and the flowers are the most vivid red and pink you’d ever imagine. It’s name is - “Brilliant” if your looking to liven up your garden with colour.

Fuchsia’s can be bought at all the garden centres and vary in price from 99p upwards, this all depends on the size of the plant your looking for, but I always like to go to the boot sales on Sundays as I fine that these are the best places to find plants, people are always more generous with their prices at the boot sales and your dealing with gardeners who can give you advice about the cutting they have just got out of their garden and not the garden centre which is more like a supermarket for plant sales.

Most fuchsia can be grown in pots and transplanted to the area’s of the garden you want them to stay later on when they are bigger, a hardy plant will withstand the winter months too, so once you have planted it in the area you want it to grow you can forget about it and watch it take and grow into a nice sized shrub or bush. They make excellent hedges if you want to add colour to your gardens borders, and add colour to an otherwise green area of the garden.

They will grow in almost any soil, as long as it is well drained and they do like a little bone meal as food when you plant them out. The best time for planting outdoors is May or June and they like full sun or half shaded area’s of the garden, this is why they make such good plants for a hedge as they can handle being in the sunlight during the hot months, but you have to remember they like a good watering too. You can cut them back in November but if your looking for a larger plant or hedging then leave them grow over the winter.

A fuchsia will grow quickly unless it is one of the more rarer found species like the Miss California which is a slow growing one, but has a lovely pink and white flower worth the time and effort.
You can take cutting from the fuchsia by cutting the shoots which have no flowers buds on them in March, cut the shoot about 3-4 inches long and put in pots of an equal mixture of peat and sand and water well. There can be grown in the greenhouse until bigger.

Fuchsias are usually trouble free but can suffer from diseases like black root, the sign of this is a discolouring of the leaves which will then fall off, it can be treated with powder from the garden centres.
It can also be invaded with greenfly so keep a close eye on your plants as these little blighters can be very damaging and will spread to other plants and vegetables, causing lots of damage in the garden for their size, these can be got rid of easily with a spray from the garden centre.

I love the fuchsia as there is colour and the sizes they grow can cover gaps in hedges and they catch the eye. The best varieties to grow in my opinion and if you can find them are:_

Brilliant - A nice red and pink flowering shrub or hedging.
Mission Bells - A deep vivid pink to add vibrant colour to the garden.

Miss California - A Delicate pink and white.

Ting-a-ling - An amazing white flowering shrub which takes the breath away. You have to see it to believe it.

Swing time - Which makes the best hanging baskets, as it is a lovely red flower with creamy white petals forming the bell shape at the bottom.

Have fun in your garden this year.

Summary: Beautiful