Fuchsia Information to New Members

The pin given to new members.

The Swedish Fuchsia Society - Information to new members

(Links to appropriate pages on the Fuchsia Page are of course not available in the info sheet sent out...!!)

Anyone who shares the interests of the society can become a member. Contact someone on the committee! For the membership fee you get the bulletins of that year regardless of what time of year you pay, as well as a membership pin on joining. Of course, you are always welcome to the events.

The fuchsia hails from Latin America, the West Indies, New Zealand and some islands in the Pacific. It was introduced in Europe at the end of the 18th century by the Frenchman Charles Plumier, who named it after Leonhard Fuchs, a prominent 16th century botanist. The 19th century was the first popularity period for the fuchsia in Europe and it even became common in the Swedish countryside. In the early 20th century its popularity waned only to approach a new time of glory today.

In the wild fuchsias are deciduous bushes and trees that bloom on annual growth. They like cool, damp air and rich, porous soil. Fuchsia species have been crossed back and forth innumerable times and the result is thousands of hybrids, often similar, but there are still more than enough different kinds to satisfy even the most rabid collector!

SOIL: Light and porous, half store-bought soil + half bark mould + some bone meal, commercial fertiliser etc. Don't press the soil just shake it down between the roots. Remember to feed regularly.

ENVIRONMENT: Damp and cool air (+10 to 20C degrees) but not stagnant. The relative humidity decreases as the temperature rises. In a centrally heated room the humidity is usually only 10-20 per cent and fuchsias want 80 per cent. Only hardy, outdoor plants can stand direct sunlight. A fuchsia in a pot wants filtered light. They are not happy indoors.

CUTTINGS: Fuchsias are easy to propagate with cuttings, either in a glass of water or in soil. Spring cuttings are the easiest, but you can take cuttings all summer. This is the only way of keeping a particular variety.

TRAINING: There is an embryo for new leaves at each node, so you can train and prune fuchsias any way you like. If you cut above a node there will be a new shoot from the base of each leaf on the stem. The fuchsia will flower 8 to 12 weeks after the last cut.

STANDARDS: The tour-de-force of the fuchsia. Let an untopped cutting grow straight up securely staked from the very beginning. Pinch out shoots along the stem, but leave the leaves. The plant has to breathe. The leaves will grow abnormally big. The fuchsia is then topped above three or four pairs of leaves higher than the desired length of stem. The leaves are still there along the stem. The side shoots in the crown are topped after every two or three pairs of leaves. No winter rest the first year. Go on cutting back the crown. When the plant has started to grow again the second spring, the leaves are removed along the now wooded stem - unless they have already fallen off by themselves. (See some pictures of Fuchsia Standards at Jämtfuchsian)

Watering goes hand in hand with the temperature. The cooler, the less water. At 4C degrees you hardly need to water at all. The soil must never be allowed to dry out completely, nor must it ever become soggy. Some things to remember:

- No standards can survive more than a few hours in temperatures below freezing point.

- The floor is the coldest place in most buildings including greenhouses, so put your plants on tables or boxes.

- The lower the temperature, the less water is needed, but the soil must not dry out entirely. Water when the weather is mild, but remember that a fuchsia can droop in the sun without needing water.

- Check on your standard frequently! Remove dead leaves and twigs to keep grey mould and white fly at bay!

OUTDOORS: Some fuchsias are hardy (can grow outside in the border with its roots roaming free all year round) all the way up to Lake Mälaren, especially variants of Fuchsia magellanica, which hails from the southern tip of South America. Hardy fuchsias growing outdoors in Sweden need porous, well-drained soil and a sunny position. They will make small graceful bushes or hedges that freeze over ground in the winter, but form new shoots from the base again next spring.

WINTER REST: Before the first frosts all pot-grown fuchsias should be protected from the rain to dry up a little before all green matter is removed from the plant. Then they are left out for another week in the cold and the sun. After that the plants can be stored with or without their pots in a cool place in about 4C degrees.

REPLANTING: The white sucking roots disappear during the winter rest. After the winter you remove the pot and tap the root ball to shake off old soil. Now you'll see the brown wooded roots. Cut off the longest ones, i.e. prune the roots. Plant the fuchsia in as small a pot as possible without crowding the roots. Do not press the soil, water it in. Since there are no sucking roots yet, you must not water for another 2 or 3 weeks. Take the plant carefully out of the pot and check. If there are white roots you can water with care. Spray rather than water. No sun on the plants at this stage, but a warm temperature is fine, if you can maintain a humid atmosphere. This is when most fuchsias are lost owing to soggy soil and dry air. If your plant has leaves and white roots, do not shake off any soil etc, just take a bigger pot and fresh soil.

PESTS: White flies are the most common. Pyrethrum and soap mixtures can be used.

WHERE DO I FIND UNUSUAL FUCHSIAS? In the past there was really only Beacon and Göteborgskan in the shops, but with the advent of the Green Era and special societies like ours, the choice has increased considerably even in the shops. In the Stockholm area you can buy late winter cuttings at Växus and Weibulls, and we have the Rockdala Nursery in the society. We also have cutting-swapping events and take part in the Garden Show at the Sollentunamässan in March, where Rockdala supplies the cuttings. (Go to ADRESSES for Mail Order Fuchsia Nurseries - USA, Australia, Holland...)

The Swedish Fuchsia Society was formed in 1983 to stimulate interest in fuchsias. The Annual General Meeting is held in the spring when we also have cutting-swapping events. We publish three bulletins a year. Most of the books in the library are in English.

We have 800 members and an independent local society in the Östersund area. We participate in EuroFuchsia and have contacts with fuchsia societies in Åland, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, France, Switzerland, Italy, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Canada, the USA, the Republic of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia.

(Addresses HERE)

Committee

Agneta Westin, Östermalmsgatan 68, S-114 50 STOCKHOLM, editor

Birgitta Dahl, Svedjevägen 23, S-161 37 BROMMA, archivist

Christer Carlson, Norra läget 35, S-136 53 HANINGE,

Auditor

Roger Sjödin, Lomvägen 271, S-191 56 SOLLENTUNA,

Librarian

Marie Källberg, Jungfruvägen 8, S-182 35 DANDERYD,

JämtFuchsian (in Swedish)

c/o Ingrid Nilsson, Häste 1841, S-832 40 KROKOM,

Growing advice

Kenneth Nilsson, Lundagatan 27, S-117 27 STOCKHOLM, + 46 8 669 4232

E-mail kenneth.nilsson@mbox3.swipnet.se

Internet http://www.klippo.se/nilsson/home.html (That's where the page was before it got too large...)

http://www.dicom.se/fuchsias/home.html

Nursery

Susanna Hveem, Rockdala Handelsträdgård, Ålstavägen 25,

S-137 56 VÄSTERHANINGE, +46 8 500 315 88

Svenska Fuchsiasällskapet, c/o A. Westin, Östermalmsgatan 68, S-114 50 STOCKHOLM

Postal giro 19 47 12-6, Membership fee SEK 80