After a long winter under a heap of maple leaves...
(Click the small pictures to see a full size picture)
OCTOBER
After the first fost, usuallay mid-October, I prune back and strip the fuchsia plants of all their leaves and take them out of their pots. If the soil is too wet I put them to dry for a week or so. I place the plants on the ground and pour at least 2 feet of dry leaves over them. A plastic cover stops the mound from sogging.
APRIL
Then there is nothing to do till April, whan I start removing the leaves, layer by layer, day by day, slowly, to let the spring air and some light down to the plants. If severe frost is forecast, just put some leaves back. TAke out some plants to check f they have survied. This plant obviously has survived. It's green under the bark.
APRIL
Usually the palnts produce pale, juicy shoots down there in the dark
´these shoots are extremely sensitive to light and dry air (100% moisture
under the leaves).
Repot the plant in a pot just slightly bigger than the root ball.
APRIL
Moist, soil from the bag, but don't water the plant now. The root left after winter can't absorb water and you risk drowning the plant.
APRIL
Instead, enclose the plant in a transparent plastic bag to give it a moist "mini-green-house". If there is no risk of frost, keep the plant outside. The plant is used to low temepartures from the winter sleep under the leaves and will cope with the cool spring air beatifully
APRIL
BUT, be sure to put the plastic covered plant in total shade. A single
ray of sun will heat the plastic bag to killing high temperatures. Open
the bag to air out excessive moisture, each day.
If you get days of soft rain , take off the plastic bag.
Water the plant after about 2 or 3 weeks and then not again until 2-3 weeks
later.
22 MAY
New 26 May
5 weeks later, the plant looks like this. It has been watered only once, around May 5. It has rained during these 5 weeks but not a lot. I kept a plastic bag over tha plant the first two weeks and it was in total shade. From now on I'll water it "normaly", since it now has a foliage that needs water.
The plants kept in the frost free house is a slightly different story...
This is the "bed room" in my little summer house, and it's where I keep lots of potted fuchsia plants from October to April. I try to keep the temperature at +3 C / 35 F, but a litle window lets the sun in and temperature gets too high and the plants will not "go to sleep", but ususally keep on growing through the winter..
Some plants even flower in the darkness.
And do they flower?
Marcus Graham for example just kept on flowering.
And so did Space Shuttle.
Barbara has produced feet-long shoots in the dakness. These shoots are too weak to harden off to a life outdoors so I cut them back to just small stumps and let the plant produce new shoots outdoors after the plant has been re-potted.
This Quasar had shorter shoots but I cut them off ....
...and took the plant out of the pot and removed aboyt half of the old compost.
I pot back in a slightly smaller pot. Sometimes in the same pot, depending on how much soil I can tak off the old clump.
The old pot to the left and the new pot to the right.
Just shake the compost down in the pot, do not press at all, water through...
....and put the pot in total shade outdoors. Under a bush or behind the house.
DO NOT water again for several weeks, almost a month. All fine roots have to develope before the the plant can absorbe any water, and if you water the compist it juts get soggier and soggier and the nmew roots will not develope. Teh plant will drown.
This is a root ball of one of the plants kept inside the house. The plants have been watered only TWICE from October to April and still, you can see on this root ball that there is mosture enough (the soil is darker from the bottom and 2/3 up). More water would have made the roots rot. So be careful when it comes to watering plants during winter rest.
Some fuchsias have peculiar roots... Like a dahlia. this is the roots of Fuchsia fulgens.