Fabulous Fuchsia

You’ve probably seen this plant before in your local garden center; it is hard to ignore a Fuchsia. Its bold colors and unusually shaped flowers are very distinctive and can make an exotic addition to your garden. While there are upright varieties of this plant it is most commonly grown in hanging baskets where its delicate blooms can cascade over the edge of the container and appear to hang in mid-air.

This exotic plant is native to Central and South America and its two-toned flowers come in shades of pink, red, white, purple and magenta. They are hardy in USDA garden zones 8 to 10 so they are most often treated as an annual plant but Fuchsia can also be grown indoors as well. When planted outdoors they prefer partial to full shade conditions. They bloom best in the cool conditions found in the spring or fall and too much heat will actually weaken the plant. Hanging on a porch or the limb of a shady tree is ideal but if temperatures are going to be consistently above 80 degrees during the summer then you may want to move this plant back indoors as the heat will cause it to drop its flowers and buds.

While it is blooming you want to make sure you check the container daily and water it when the soil surface feels dry. Good drainage is important as the plant will rot if overwatered. Try to also avoid watering the foliage as this can lead to disease and you should fertilize Fuchsia at least monthly while in bloom. The spot where the leaves and stems meet is a common location for insects, particularly aphids and any infestation can be treated with horticultural oil.

Fuchsia is not frost-tolerant so you will need to move the plant back indoors early in the fall before night temperatures fall below 45 degrees if you want to treat it like a perennial. Fuchsias go dormant during the winter so you should keep it in a cool spot where it will receive filtered sunlight and allow it to dry out before you water it again. Fuchsia prefer to be pot-bound so don’t be in a hurry to move it to a larger container. It is also possible to cut the tips of the stems and root them in a moist potting mix if you wish to start a new plant in lieu of moving the “mother” plant indoors.

Fuchsia is not hard to maintain if you can provide it with the proper growing conditions. There are nearly 5,000 cultivars of Fuchsia and perhaps the biggest problem with this plant is which one to bring home with you.

Photo courtesy of Jill Mazur.

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