Fuchsia round up 6: Checkerboard and Hawaain Sunset

Checkerboard: Checkerboard is an absolute favourite of mine and one of those that I am sure to miss now that I am outing with my vast collection.  If you have read my previous fuchsia roundups something may have occurred to you.  Checkerboard is not my usual type of girl as there is not a frill or a ruffle in sight.  You'd have been forgiven for thinking that I may find Checkerboards' skinny blooms uninteresting having favoured a slightly fuller figure in the past.  But as with anything over time, tastes change and where as my attention was once captured by ample frills, in the last year or two its colour that has been doing it for me.

If you are looking for intense colour, then Checkerboard is one of the finest in my opinion.  It is also the only fuchsia I can think of that actually looks better in bud before it comes properly into flower.  The buds hang like gem coloured pendulums, bright, simple and sophisticated.  The buds have a really long 'tube', yes its the technical term apparently, which is bright red with an absolute pristine white bud end (not the technical term).  The red tubes actually rather remind me of strawberry laces.  Thats a rather plastic looking dark pinky red sweet for anybody not in the know.  Even buried amongst my masses, these buds sing out.

When these little buds of joy do open, they are still little lookers, even if I personally think their best moment is over.  There is no explosion of ruffles, no sudden pouf of petals, the sepals merely peel back to form a white star around a very small skirt of bright red petals.  This is a perfect mixture of refined form and refined colour, I love it.  Maybe it might survive the cold after all?....

Hawaiian Sunset: Its funny, looking back at a little note I made when I took photos I was rather surprised to see it said "Hawaiian Sunset: chuck".  I had just been admiring how nice it was and yet my judgement on its' future was swift and un resolving.  This unoffending dark pinky red fuchsia had to go.  Why? I ask myself.  The answer lies in the adjective I used to describe it above: nice.  Hawaiian Sunset is nice; it isn't amazing, its not the best thing ever, its just perfectly ok.

Unfortunately for Hawaiian, nice just isn't enough to cut it in my garden.  Space in the borders is at an all time premium, the lawn is already under threat from my spade and thats without taking into account the forty gladiolus bulbs that will shortly be wending their way to my doorstep.  Even if I wasn't throwing out my entire collection I would be disposing of Hawaiian.  I only have room for plants that grab the eyeballs with both hands and say 'hey! look at me, am I not wonderful?" or give the nose a solid honk while on your way past.

There are things about Hawaiian that I do rather like.  I enjoy the fact that the stamen are exactly the same shade as the petals and remain encased within their frilly caocoon, refraining from poking their heads out as other varieties do.  The colour is also very pleasing, but other than that I find it unremarkable in size or structure and could possibly, if asked, list ten others I prefer.

Fuchsia round up 5: Deep purple

Deep purple; a glamorous beauty

If you were looking for a fuchsia that really is a show stopper, or a real 'bobby dazzler' as it might be known in the UK, then look no further than 'Deep Purple'.  Who ever bred this variety could grow fuchsias, they just weren't terribly original with the naming.  Its a deep purple colour... so lets call it 'deep purple'.

There are two things that set this fuchsia apart from the masses.  One is the colour; deep intense royal purple set against absolute driven snow white sepals.  The contrast can only be described as eye catching. However the purple is more interesting than just a solid colour.  Where the petals join the sepals the bold purple blends seamlessly into hot pink and its all very pretty.  Then the stamens are again pure white contrasting with the surrounding ruffles.

Its undeniably huge

The other thing is the pure size.  I would probably say deep purple is the fuchsia in my collection with the biggest flowers on the whole.  They are simply massive.  To give an idea of its true scale I have photographed it next to a biro pen.  While that is not a terribly glamorous measuring stick I have more than once bought a fuchsia on the strength of an online picture thinking it would be massive and been sadly disappointed.  A biro is a fairly standard size universally I believe.  Its basically the size of the palm of my hand, and I have big lady hands.

Deep purple is a trailing variety.  Im not sure whether its meant to be a trailer but the monstrous blooms hang heavily over the side of the pot like parachuters who haven't quite made the ground, although I have found some before now that have sagged right onto the floor.

They can't help but hang heavily like curtain tassels.  They really are solidly built

The blooms are so big that it was actually possible to wedge my camera right up into the frills and I got a little involved in taking some arty pictures that actually show it off rather well.  So for once Im going to button it here and let my photos sell this baby because those purple frills can show themselves off far better than I can describe them.

Fuchsia round up 4: Fuchsia rust

Clearly this is not a picture of fuchsia rust, it is instead 'Voodoo'.  Unfortunately
rust struck in the days before I photographed every move a plant made, and its a funny thing to photograph
ordinarily.  I wasn't about to put up a post of just words so this will have to do.
There are plenty of good pictures of rust elsewhere Im sure

So you mooch out one day to your pot of prized fuchsias and things are not looking good.  Flowers are few and disappointingly small, things are looking a little bare on the leaf front.  Are there orangey-brown spots on the tops of leaves?  Turn one over, is the underside of that leaf suddenly looking like a rusty old bit of metal?  If so my friend; you have fuchsia rust.  Or more precisely, your prized fuchsia does.  Oh dear.  A fungal disease that 'reduces vigour' is blighting your plants.  Lovely word that; vigour.

I had heard tales of fuchsia rust being prevalent and to be on guard for it, but for several years my fuchsias had managed to evade its dusty clutches.  Had I not been so keen on buying new varieties on the internet I would probably always have escaped it.  But, alas, my lack of self control and incessant need for more frilly ruffles was my downfall and on one shipment in came the infection.  I couldn't tell you which plant it was and where it came from because by the time I had spotted it, it had already spread.  And quite frankly, my memory is just not that good.  I can however tell you how I managed to eradicate it, because it is possible.  I assumed that if a fuchsia caught rust then that was it- bin time!  But copious research revealed that it can be tackled.

Firstly I identified which plants had succumbed and tried to isolate these.  By 'isolate' I mean shift them about five metres away from the masses to the other side of the patio.  Considering rust can be carried on the wind, thats not much of a quarantine, but I tried.  Some varieties appeared to be largely unaffected, others were completely blighted.

Next I got plucking, literally.  Every single leaf that appeared to be affected was removed; a lengthy process that was a killer on the knees to say the least.  The lack of 'vigour' at this point is actually a benefit.  Removed leaves should really be burned I believe to help stop the fungus spreading.  Some of my collection began to look like freshly plucked chickens, but needs must.  Sometimes it has to get worse before it can get better.

I had hoped that if I kept on top of the plucking I might be able to steadily eradicate it, but its rusty little grip was tight, so I resorted to fungal spray.  Yes, chemicals.  I know if you are a fan of organic then I have committed a sin, but I was desperate and sometimes organic just isn't going to cut it.  Im not aware of any organic remedy anyway so there wasn't much choice.  Although fuchsias hardly enjoy fungal spray, they also don't enjoy rust so your between a rock and a hard place so you might as well give it a go!  Luckily my trip to the dark side worked, and while my plants did not ever return to their former glory that year, the year after there was no sign of it at all.

This kind of disease is the reason behind making sure all leaves are stripped from the bark before tucking plants away for the winter.  While keeping the fuchsia snug and warm, winter protection is also harbouring your pests and diseases if you don't ensure the leaves are all removed first.  Pests and disease that will happily sit and wait, patiently biding their time, plotting and scheming, and then boom, spring comes and they are back.  In the past I have not been the most vigilant about removing leaves, I have found it difficult to actively de-robe a plant while it is still looking fairly good.  I have been known to cover a plant up in leaf and go back and uncover it at a later date when the leaves are a bit more shrivelled.  Bad, bad, bad!  You have to be cruel to be kind, and that winter I held no prisoners.

Fuchsia Round up 3: The very first pot

For todays fuchsia round up lets go right back to the very beginning- my four originals.  This is where my slightly overwhelming collection and the love affair with these little frilly flirts all began.  When I first saw the bank of little plug pants we chose just four, and a delightful little orange diascia to go in the large black pot that resides next to our driveway.  I would probably have bought more at the time, but the mother probably held me in check, she became less successful at this over the years.  May I just say on a side note; diascias are lovely little plants that I need to get back into my life.

This is such an old photo, probably should have titivated a little before I took it but you get the idea.  On the left is Bella Rosella, bright pink buds on the right are blackie

Southern Belle Bella Rosella- When I sat down to write this I could not remember the name of this one for love nor money, which is ironic because this really is the one that got me started.  What happened was upright Blackie flowered first, so when the pendular buds on this one got to a similar size I expected them to flower too.  But the first two ones just kept growing, and growing, and growing.  Those first two buds got obscenely large and I was completely transfixed.  It was only when they reached the size of lemons and I had spent a considerable amount of time on my hands and knees in the front garden staring at them that they finally flowered.

The very first two Bella Rosellas that came out, see how ginormous they are.  Also notice the whopping bud above it, thats about four times the size of a blackie bud

Huge and frilly; nothing else needs to be said.  Those first two blooms were so huge they only just fitted into the palm of my hand.  This is a 'Southern Belle', meaning its a huge double, and there are frills all round.  Mine has dark purple petals with lighter, almost baby pink sepals.  When looking this variety up elsewhere on the web I have found pictures of pink fuchsias labelled as this, I would like to think that mine is labelled correctly, but who knows mine could have been something else masquerading for years right under my nose.  None of the subsequent flowers have ever been quite as large, I think it put a lot of effort into those first two buds, but it was too late; completely hooked.

Bella Rosella bottoms, the interesting bits that you don't actually see day to day

Upright Blackie- Much much smaller than Bella Rosella, this one is about colour not size.  The petals are really dark, although not actually black like anything in the flower world, but near enough.  They are really striking, especially when grouped amongst the bright colours and pastels in the rest of the pot.  Still some frill-age, a delightful little number that I would highly recommend.

Spion Kop- A quite large, although not southern belle sized fuchsia in white and raspberry pink.  The formation of the petals of this one is really lovely, it always reminds me of a huge ruffled ballgown skirt as the petals are quite splayed out rather than being all tight and contained.  I liked it so much I ended up with two of them, one out the back as well.

Spion Kop at the front on the left, wendy's beauty on the right, the orange mass is diascia,
was called something like 'pumpkin'.  I think it all made for a rather nice display

Southern Belle Wendy's Beauty- This is basically exactly the same as Bella Rosella, just pale.  The petals are very very pale lilac, and the sepals are white.  A nice contraster to lots of colour, and obviously lovely big flowers.

I overwintered this pot by cutting the stems right down and then interweaving lots of fleece amongst them to keep the soil from freezing.  Helpfully the pot is situated on a drain cover so it keeps it just slightly warmer than it would have been.  After a couple of years I found that wendy's beauty started to take over the pot and the other varieties were struggling to elbow themselves some space.  I was going to keep this one, but I really fancy a change, its such a nice black pot and it would be great to try a new display in it.

Fuchsia Round Up 2: All the whites

Part 2 of my fuchsia round ups is going to begin with me saying this: If you have one frilly white fuchsia you do not need to be going to buy any more.  I apparently had five completely white, or thereabouts, varieties.  I say apparently because its only the fact that I kept the plug plant labels that I know this.  Truth be told, one frilly white fuchsia looks much like another, despite the varying stripes of green or splashes of pink here and there.  I will be differing slightly from my previous format of talking about each variety in depth because I can't with these five.  In my memory they have basically all merged into a single variety, apart from Upright Annabel because she distinguished herself from the pack by being was less frilly.  Thats how you stand out from a crowd apparently, by being the frill-less plain Jane.  I even had to resort to comparing the pictures on the labels with my own photographs to distinguish between them.

Annabel, bit of pink, long dangling sepals, not much else to say

Upright Annabel- I think.  The 'upright' element of the name refers to the growing habit but to be perfectly honest, apart from the real droopy trailers that are over the edge of the pot and off across the floor before you can turn round, I can't say that there is a noticeable difference between the rest.  Despite being a bit of a plain Jane, I actually rather like old Annabel.  Simple and refined, but with proportionally long sepals that are shown to curl up on my old packet, but in reality rather hung down hiding the petals like saggy dogs ears.

Sarah Eliza- My pick of the bunch, but then she's not strictly white

Southern Belle Trailing Sarah Eliza- This would be my pick of my white varieties, probably because its mainly pink.  I think the contrasting sepals and stamen in a surprisingly bright shade of pink make it fun zingy variety.  The problem is, and I don't know why I always make this assumption, but I expect Southern Belles to be real whoppers.  Sarah Eliza is decently proportioned, but she is no larger lady.  Turn her over and I think she has a really delightful undercarriage, but as you can't see that unless you get a little handsy it shouldn't really be factored in.

Look at that for a bottom: frilly, ruffled with a flash of pink.  Whats not to like?  Apart from my prematurely ancient hand in the background

For my other three varieties I can't tell you anymore than the pictures can! Southern Belle Pink Marshmallow, Trailing Trudi Davro, and Southern Belle Upright Happy Wedding Day are white fuchsias, fairly ruffled, fairly large but not huge and otherwise completely lost amongst my crowds of pots.  I don't dislike them but they haven't really registered on my radar.  If one wanted a white fuchsia to make up a hanging basket or window box or something they would be perfectly acceptable.

Think its Trudi Davro, really couldn't be sure.  The packet showed the sepals down and mine are most certainly up!

But again; lovely bottom.  The dusky pink of the stigma is actually rather lovely

No idea what this is, it doesn't match any of the above three varieties

This looks like the most likely candidate for Happy Wedding Day

Next time in my Round up part 3 its back to some colour thankfully!

Fuchsia round-up 1: Bland's New Stripe, Angie and Eva Boerg

Last month I wrote a little post saying that I was throwing out all my thirty-odd varieties of fuchsias, but rather than let all my experiences of growing these little beauties go to waste I will be doing several of these fuchsia round-up posts over the next few weeks.  Just because I am moving on to pastures new doesn't mean others don't want to grow them.  Hopefully if you read this so you will be a little more prepared on what you are getting.  I have found many times that i have bought a variety to discover it looks nothing like what I thought it would when it finally blooms.  I had really hoped to be able to have  a picture of each variety but some of mine really gave pathetic shows this year and I didn't manage to catch some of them.  One of the inevitable problems of buying plants on the internet I guess, I always think the blooms are going to be nice and big and turn out to be really unimpressive.  So here we go with the first three varieties:

Bland's New Stripe- An original member of the team from the first year I properly got into fuchsias.  Unfortunately I bought it at time when I would buy virtually anything under the 'fuchsia' umbrella, as this really isn't my cup of tea at all.  Its predominantly the traditional red and purple colours of hardy fuchsias that I don't particularly like, apart from some streaking on the purple of baby pink.  Probably this is because it is actually a hardy variety where as I normally only buy non-hardy types.  Largely I found that my plant resembled pictures I have seen on the web, although I have seen the red sepals tightly curled up and away from the purple where as mine generally just stood up straight on end like they had experienced a terrible fright.  Average sized, roughly two inches long not counting the stamens, there is no frill or excitement of any kind.  If I may be so brash as to say; I find it boring.  I really don't know what came over me when I bought it.  If you wanted a hardy fuchsia for the garden that is a little different, this may be a good one.

Bland's New Stripe- The baby pink streaking down the purple petals is where the 'stripe' element comes from I guess,
other than than its much like a regular hardy fuchsia.  I didn't do an 'up the skirt' shot of this one as there is not much to look at

Angie- Ah little Angie.  This I would probably describe as a real do-er, it was the first one out last year and flowered continuously for months.  Described as a 'bush' variety they aren't wrong.  There is no spreading or trailing, no long unruly shoots.  Angie is most definitely a bush, and an extremely small one at that.  Everything about Angie is miniature, she only grew about 8 inches tall, the leaves are tiny and the flowers are only about an inch long and less than an inch wide.  But in her favour this tiny bush was always covered in blooms but like all good reliable do-ers, Angie is a little underwhelming.  Her purple and white with the merest splash of red doesn't exactly set me alight and she is so small she doesn't have the presence to make a statement across the patio.  But for reliable flowering that won't get out of hand, she's your girl.  Unfortunately Angie never managed to get her picture taken, poor girl.

Eva Boerg- I think.  Most of the labels wore off so its not 100% definite but this seems the most likely candidate

Eva Boerg- Another purple and white variety, and again unfortunately in my opinion, not the most exciting.  When I bought it as a plug plant the image on the packet showed a really dark plumy purple but as I have regularly found when the fuchsias actually come out, the colour of my plant was a little different.  More like a mid pinky purple it is pretty, but still not what I thought I was going to get.  While you might be thinking you've clearly just identified the wrong fuchsia as Eva from the pictures, I remember thinking this when she first flowered.   Eva is what is known as a 'single' flower so is fairly small with no frills.  Like I said, its quite pretty with faintly blushed pink sepals and is my favourite of the three featured here.

The 'up the skirt' shot, fairly open petals, overall 'nice'

Goodbye fuchsias

Just as a good fuchsia should be, huge and frothy, the only problem is the photograph the interesting bit you have to include a wrist

A few years ago I became completely obsessed with fuchsias.  At its peak my collection probably totalled fifty plants with probably thirty five different varieties, it was really getting out of hand with pots all over the patio.  Really they are completely responsible for getting me into gardening and starting all this, but sadly their endless fascination for me has come to an end.
Quite simply there is too much work involved in watering and overwintering for the amount of flowers you get.  As all my varieties are non-hardy I have to spend a considerable amount of time out in the freezing cold in November trussed up like a turkey wrapping pots in bubble wrap.  Then there is a big ugly igloo in the corner all winter that I have to continually nip out to for brick rearranging purposes to keep the whole thing tethered down.  Its just too much like hard work.
I have quite a few varieties that are pretty special, but I also have more than a few that are pretty ordinary as I was not the most selective of buyers, buying any variety I could get my hands on.  The sheer volume of pots means I can't enjoy the really good ones as much as I would like.  After much deliberation I have decided to let them all go.  I will of course be sad to lose the nicer ones, but they all need some serious work at this point.

I don't even remember seeing this one this year which is a shame as it was a variate.  The name escapes me at the moment

I have overwintered my fuchsias every year because it means I have larger and more developed plants, but the show this year really wasn't very impressive, as I think they all want digging out and replanting in fresh compost, and to be quite honest I really can't be bothered.  In fact there were so few flowers this year that I would struggle to identify the really good ones, so its easier to just lose the lot.  Also I have a few pots where of the two plants originally in there, one has died so either I need to repot the other or put another one in.  More work.  I would rather use the pots for more vegetables next year, or annuals, and then tidy the whole lot up and put them away for the winter.
Last year I selected some varieties that weren't doing it for me anymore and left them out to freeze in the cold rather than giving them space in the bubble wrap igloo.  Did they die?  Of course not.  No, they persevered on, helped along by a mild winter while several of the good ones rotted in overly damp conditions in the igloo.
While I may be getting rid of my stock, I still appreciate their beauty and Im sure others will to so over the next few weeks I will run through some of the varieties I have had, good points, bad points, pictures if I have them etc.

I really shouldn't post pictures from earlier in the year in the middle of winter, its depressing