Fancy a Fuchsia?

I am in the habit of writing about my garden as if I was the only person with a stake in it. I want to say a bit about fuchsias and I simply cannot talk about my fuchsias in my garden, they are Sue’s fuchsias in our garden.

Fuchsias really come into their own in late summer and autumn. Even though most of our hardy varieties come through the winter with their top growth fairly unscathed, they all get chopped down to an inch or so in late winter. Up they come again, bushier than ever, to start flowering in midsummer and continue until frosted.

Fuchsia microphylla, one of the encliandra types with tiny vivid pink flowers, is outstanding every year. It is the hardiest we grow and more years than not, comes through the winter without dropping a leaf or stopping flowering. ‘Cornish Pixie’ is a variety of it that only gets a foot or so tall.

Fuchsia microphylla

‘Delta’s Sarah’ is a tall growing variety with white sepals and petals at first lilac blue, turning to pink. ‘Ian Storey’ is very upright and has flowers with red sepals and petals at first almost black, lightening to deep purple.

Fuchsia 'Delta's Sarah'

We have three varieties with bright gold foliage; ‘Genii’ is good but magellanica ‘Aurea’ is better, making a mound of gold against which the red stems and flowers are well set off. ‘Olga Storey’ is even showier, with larger flowers of red and purple. The leaves are bright yellow with a red midrib and petiole, seemingly immune to fuchsia rust.

Fuchsias magellanica 'Aurea' and 'Olga Storey'

We have one very good plant which was a volunteer seedling. While probably not distinctive enough to name, it is very free flowering and very healthy, the flowers a very bright red with lighter red petals.

Fuchsias 'Ian Storey' and an unnamed seedling

We have a lot of varieties in pots which I have been trying to propagate this year in order to get young vigorous plants going to replace the old, somewhat tired ones. Some are truly outstanding and it is difficult to pick favourites. ‘Jadi Messingtetra’ is one of the showiest, its sepals arching like pink birds wings below which is a hula skirt of blue, turning mauve.

Fuchsia 'Jadi Messingtetra'

‘Walz Blaukous’ has similar colouring but semi-double flowers. ‘Dying Embers’ has red suffused leaves, dark red sepals and almost black petals. Compact and free flowering, it is in the garden and will be left out to see if it survives the winter. Cuttings have been taken.

Fuchsias 'Walz Blaukous' and 'Dying Embers'

If your view of fuchsias is based on the basket and bedding varieties that abound in garden centres I would urge you to look again, you’re missing some very lovely and very beautiful plants.