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(in Sweden... beware!)
(USDA Zones 5-7)
(in Washington State USA, click HERE)
(USDA Zones 5-8)
Click HERE to read about a "winter
report" from "USDA Zone 5 in
Sweden"
(Hardy Fuchsias in northern Germany) 38
K + 49 K
Hardy Fuchsias on Ireland
When I first got really interested in Fuchsias in 1986 or so it was because
I was told by a neighbour that there were fuchsias that could withstand
a Swedish winter outside. I didn't really believe
her but she gave me a cutting from the F.
mag riccartonii she claimed to have had in her border for years. I
accepted the cutting, raised it and planted it in the border. When the
frost killed (what I thought) the little bush in October that year I thought
I had come out on top. Fuchsias can't be left out for the winter.
When spring came I was to remove the "dead" bush. Under ground
the bush was fully alive. Looked like an octopus covered in white potatoe
sprouts. I left the fuchsia in the ground and got a beatiful display of
small fuchsia flowers from midsummer till October. I was seduced.
Grown in Europe, esp. the northwestern parts, as far north as Stockholm,
the magellanicas are cut back to ground level by winter frosts. Cold, dry
winds do more damage than merely low temperatures. It seldom expires altogether
and in spring, fresh young shoots appear from the base of the plant. These
shoots grow 4-5 feet (1-1,5 m) during summer and bloom contiuously from
midsummer till frost kills them in autumn.
The magellanicas I have tried as winter hardies are:
F.
mag. riccartonii
F.
mag. gracilis
F. magellanica gracilis in SNOW...
F.
mag. gracilis variegata (pic of foliage)
F. mag. aurea
F. mag. macrostemma
F. mag. thompsonii
F.mag. longipendiculata
F. mag. pumila
F. mag.
alba / molinae
Magellanicas all seem to be very hardy, but I have had the greatest success with F. mag alba / molinae, gracilis and pumila. With me riccartonii doesn't grow as a dense bush but just 4-5 branches spreading out. Alba / molinae makes a large (4 x 4 feet at least) bush but is rather shy in flowering. Pumila is a nice one with a maximim height of 2 feet (50 cm) and a nice dense bush covered in small one inch (2 cm) dark red and purple flowers. F. mag. alba / molinae is the only one with different coloured flowers, light mauve almost white. All other magellanicas have the red / purple flowers. So whichever magellanica you can get hold of, try it, either in a pot to be taken in for winter (they can grow 10 feet high in a pot if you wish), or as a winter hardy, out in the border.
Other Fuchsia Varieties to Try as Winter Hardy
Other varieties I have had out all year round for about ten years
(The winter 1995-96 has been the worst and coldest winter for 47 years,
so take this with a grain of salt):
Baby
Blue Eyes (my personal favourite)
Margaret
Brown
Preston
Guild
Genii
Lena
Whiteknight's Glister
Whiteknight's
Amethyst (beautiful flowers like small Melanie flowers, but very shy
to flower)
Corallina
Mrs
Popple
F.
procumbens
Flash
...and these rather or very large flowered doubles are too late to
bloom to be worth growing as winter hardies but they do survive and grow
large bushes, full of buds just as frost kills them in October. Dollar
Princess and Genaral Monk sometimes start flowering in August and White Fairy has had a few flowers opening befor frost.
Royal Velvet only buds.
Dollar
Princess
General
Monk
White
Fairy
Royal
Velvet
All text below is from various discussions about winter hardy
/ perennial fuchsias in the 'rec.gardens' newsgroup.
January -96
HARDY really should mean that it/ they live through freezing temp. and
even winters. But as most people in rec.gardens seem to live in CAL. and
other Southern states hardy has come to mean what "normal" people
call "patient", "robust", "rough" i.e that
the plant survives your treatment.
I grow hundreds of different fuchsia varieties but the ones i grow in pots
to overwinter indoors, I never call "hardy". Only the ones I
leave in the soil out in the border through our tough winters, I call "hardy".
F. magellanicas, Genii, Princess
Dollar, Margaret, Margaret
Brown, Whiteknight's Amethyst and some
others. They happily live through our 5-6 months of freezing winters here
in Sweden. Not above ground but they sprout every spring and bloom from
mid-June till frost.
Kenneth Nilsson
Stockholm
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From:
>Kenneth Nilsson
>Stockholm
>Sweden
>I have a lot to say about hardy fuchsias, But I will not argue on what "hardy" means. Over here where I live, Stockholm Sweden, hardy means WINTER HARDY i.e. the fuchsias live through winter. They freeze down to ground level every Oct. but sprout again now in April and bloom from May - Oct They should do a lot better in Atlanta. This is what we mean by "hardy". I'll send suggestions on varieties if you like.
Ruth (Ruth Evans):
Please do send a list. I'm not the person you originally responded to,
but I'd be interested in hearing what could grow in your area because it
would probably apply to me as well!
Ruth
OK Ruth,
Nice to hear from you, and keep in touch. I love 'talking' fuchsias!!!
Plant your perennial fuchsias in a very sunny, well drained spot, preferrably
with a wall or a big rock behind them, but not necessary. Clay soil doesn't
work. Sandy soil is best. Don't feed them too much or they will just produce
green masses and fewer flowers. (Do you mean that Atlanta gets frost in
mid Oct. and has the last frosts in April or so? In that case, what zone
are you in?) Anyway, Try, as free growing, winter hardies : ALL varieties
of Fuchsia magellanica like F. mag. alba/molinae
(said to be called 'Maiden's blush' with you), 'Riccartoni',
gracilis, pumila. All the magellanicas have very
small flowers (1 inch or so) but a profusion of them. They are all red/blue
singles except for alba/molinae which has soft pink self colored flowers.
The magellanicas flower best with a 'restricted root run' i.e. plant them
between rocks or in narrow
borders or so, if possible.
Apart from those VERY frost hardy magellanicas I have, with succes been
growing some fuchsia hybrids "out in the open all year" such
as: Baby Blue Eyes, Margaret,
Margaret Brown, Mrs
Popple, Lena, Preston
Guild (lovely clean white/clear blue), Garden News,
Princess Dollar, General Monk and so
on... If this tickles you, I'm ready to go on. Not only with fuchias, but
if our growing conditions turn out to be more or less the same, I'll give
you listings of other
"tender-not-possible-to-grow-here/there"-plants. THEY are my
special favourites. Hope to hear from you or other interested "tender-growers"
Kenneth Nilsson
Stockholm
Sweden
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