General Chat

I had a climbing fuschia last year, took cuttings and gave them away. The only ones to survive the winter were not mine! Have today taken some cuttings from the one I gave next door, in the hopes that I will get another plant which I wanted so much that I gave extra for it! Have the cuttings indoors as it is so cold today.

I planted both trailing and upright fuschias this year. Both supposed to flower in May. Plenty of greenery but no flowers yet. Do they know it's nearly June?

The only 'climbing' fuchsia that I know of is a native of New Zealand, fuchsia procumbens. It is more of a sprawler but in my garden it has started to climb up the wall in one place. It has small flowers which are held upright, and large red berries. If only we could put photos on the threads I would put one here.

We also have tree fuchsias. They are definitely trees, not shrubs. Also have small flowers, though not as small as on f. procumbens. The bark of the tree flakes off.

Huia.

I have just looked in my encyclopaedia of plants and it says under Fuchsia that 'lax or trailing plants may be trained on a trellis'. Would this be what your climbing fuchsia is or does it climb of its own accord? Like Roger, I would be interested to know what its Latin name is.

Huia.

The climbing fuschia is called Lady Boothby.
It is available from Gardening Direct on offer at £6.99.

Alyson

I got my climbing fuschia from the market for £3.50 two years ago (nearly). It didn't climb or its own accord; I had to tie it to the trellis as it grew. Unfortunately I lost all my fuschias last winter including my favorite 'Little Hobby' :-(

climbing fuchsias on sale on QVC shopping channel - by the way [being pedantic here I know!!!] they are named after a Dr Fuchs, so it's fuchsia!!

Yes, Ann of GG, I spelt it correctly. I used to have problems spelling it then I realised it was named after a Mr Fuchs so I have no problem with the spelling now.

It certainly sounds as if it does not climb unaided then, Wildgoose, therefore I personally would not class it as a climber. But then, most climbers need to grab hold of something to enable them to climb, so I suppose that it could be called a climber if it is fastened to a trellis and continues to grow upwards. I am getting confused now.

I will stick with my Fuchsia procumbens. At least I know where I am with that, unless it overtakes the whole house and garden and I get lost in it!

Huia.

even the people who sell it can't spell it!! if you go missing we shall send weedkiller by express delivery!!!

Ann X

I too bought this fuschia last year, and yes it is Lady Boothby. It is suppposed to be the only hardy and climbing fuschia. This is the second one I have bought, and from a reputable local nurseryman. I have not been able to get it to come into growth, on either occassion, and do consider myself as a bit of fuschia 'officionado', but am now in the same position with mine as Jean.
Happy Gardening
Julia in Derbyshire

Morning DizzieLizzie, what lovely memories.
Unfortunately we do not have those kind of horticultural shows around here, more is the pity, as I would never be away, but there are often fundraisers etc, which i like to go to, because you never know what you can pick up. I am also regularly in my four local garden centres and nurseries.
So, I am going to keep a look out for the fuschia Michu Picchu, that you mention. I have heard of this before, but do not think I have ever had one.
I will let you know, if I come across one. This well be my horticultural mission this year, aswell as the Streptacarpus that Jean mentioned in another recent thread. I love to find something 'new' or 'different' LOL
Julia in Derbyshire

Dear Huaithebird (I had more trouble spelling your board name than the bird). I had first spelt it 'fucshia' then changed it because the others had put the 's' first!

No it doesn't cling at all. I had to tie it as far as it grew. I shall not buy another one as it wasn't the prettiest fucshia I have even grown.

I would love to have another 'Little Hobby', though and one of the doubles.

I have only one type of Fuchsia in my garden , the slender delicate Magellancia. ( I think, I have check many books and the net and that looks identical , my neighbour had one, not from me and theirs grew into a huge 7ft tree like plant.
I have 8 of them between my front and back gardens.
They are very special to me as the original came from grandfathers garden / orchard ( he died aged 70 in 1959 ) a few were then transferred to my dad's garden, and when I moved here 33 yrs ago when I got married we brought a plant with us. (Dad died in 1994 aged 90 there are still a few in his garden !.)
They are very hardy, they have to be to survive how high up we live and how severe the frost we have !
We keep them cut back each yr so the reach about 3 - 4 ft in height, but we have one close to the front hedge which I think I will let grow without cutting back next to see how big it will eventually get.
I do like many of the other fuchsia's and would particularly like a climbing one.
Sandie

Sandie, i have looked your Magellancia fucshia up on the internet for a quick look at the picture. Not sure if I am familiar with it or not. Around these parts we have in peoples gardens what is just referred to as a hardy garden fucshia, with no name. The picture I have looked at, looks very similar, though the purple on the ones I know, is rather darker.
However, not to be outdone,LOL, I will ask about this when next in my local nursery. They have more knowledge than the garden centres, which will be soon LOL
Thanks for the idea.
Julia in Derbyshire

The climbing fuchsia is very upright but needs tying in, like some clematis. There are quite a lot of hardy fuchsias available. One web site to look at is the Duchy of Cornwall nurseries, last time I looked they had a lot. Have had plants from them and they were very well cared for and well packaged, though postage is not cheap.

I had an email from Liz (the Purple one). She gave a website which had pictures of F. procumbens. The picture of the one for sale was correct but of about 11 photos of plants grown by other people and labelled F. procumbens, only 3 were correct, so beware what you see on the internet. Also, colours can be a bit 'out' in photos. I once took a photo of a blue/mauve rose that I had growing and when it was printed it came out pink. I had to take a sample of the rose in to the shop and ask them to print it the correct colour. They had to tell their machine to put more blue in, I think. I dont know if modern digital photos have that problem, but book printers dont always get it right.

Must dash, off to town soon.

Huia.

That website Liz gave me certainly 'grows on you'. I signed up (free) and have added 3 pics and will be adding more some time. Lots of pics of fuchsias and other flowers and fungi and all sorts. Quite a few people mention the climbing fuchsia. I can see I will be deserting GR for this new site as I have spent the last 90 mins looking at a small number of the pics on it and the comments.

Huia.

I have been looking at another topic and apparently it is possible to put in a website, so for those of you who are keen on gardening and sharing your pictures of plants, go to www.growsonyou.com/
It is free to sign up and use the site. I have spent a lot of time on it since Liz sent me to it.

Huia.

OH took me for a drive out yesterday afternoon, and we ended up at my favourite nursery, (where else). They had the hardy fuchsia, Lady Boothby, at £6.99. This is the same price as last year. In fact, this is where I got mine from last year. Lovely health plants, about 2-3 ft in height. Decided not to buy one as lost the previous one, and bought two pots of Calla Lillies., instead, which I am heavily into at the moment. Driving back home, I thought, why not. So, OH going back to get me one.
One of the reasons why I think I lost mine last year, was, I was unable to protect it. I was rushed into hospital at the end of Novemebr, and we had the first frosts, then soon after, the snows, so I was unable to put fleece and bubble wrap around the pot. And that might have been another reason for losing it. It was in a stone pot, not in the ground.
So, I bet by this weekend, I have one in place.(fingers crossed)
Happy gardening
Julia in Derbyshire

Glad you found the site of interest Huia, even if only for the errors lol Hope you enjoyed spending the time on there and will do again.

Julia, glad you got your plants that you wanted, I like Calla lilies but haven't space for any at the mo. The neighbour has a huge one which I am looking after while he is away, it's in the ground so I have to make sure it gets watered along with all the rest of his garden.

Lizx