Fuchsias Pictures and Varieties

Recommended Varieties and Cultivars
The variety of fuchsia colours and forms is so great that it is a matter of taste which variety suits you. However, different varieties of fuchsia are more suited to some particular situations. This article recommends a few varieties for each situation. Click on the fuchsia name for a picture.

Fuchsia

Use

Colour

Comment

Heidi Ann

Container

Cerise / lilac

Superb small pot plant. Compact and bushy.

Marinka

Basket

Red

Easy to grow, superb massed in a basket

Mrs Popple

Hedge and bedding

Red/purple/violet

Excellent bedding / hedge. Very hardy.

Pink Galore

Basket

Pink

Beautiful colour, freely produced flowers

RAF

Basket

Red / pink

Vigorous, needs frequent pinching out.

Royal Velvet

Standard and container

Red / purple

The ultimate standard - superb plant.

Riccartonii

Hedge and bedding

Red/purple

Hardy,easy to grow. Use as permanent shrub

Snowcap

All except basket

Red / white

Lots of flowers. Hardy in many areas. Excellent.

Tennessee Waltz

Container and standard

Red / lavender

Reasonably hardy

Thalia

Bedding

Orange

Tolerant of sun, but frost tender

Winston Churchill

Container and standard

Red / lavender

Excellent all-rounder - a GardenAction favourite

Click here for other pictures of different varieties without a description.

Training Standard Fuchsias
Training a standard is relatively simple if you know how - GardenAction can help with this. Why is it then, that a good standard will cost anything between �15.00 to �40.00 in the garden centres? Simply because it takes between four to six months for a standard to grow to the correct height, and during this time it needs light, heat and a lot of space.

As far as light is concerned, you will need a greenhouse or some source of artificial light - click here for details of relatively cheap artificial light. Artificial lights are the best solution, because they will provide sufficient light even during the overcast short winter days.

As far as heat is concerned, the greenhouse will need to be heated to a minimum of 10C (50C) - the ideal temperature is about 18C (64F). Never let frost get to the plants - one night is enough to kill them. If fluorescent lights are used, the same temperatures are required, but the lights will be in the garage and the brick walls will retain heat better thus requiring less energy to reach the same temperature.

Trying to grow standards on the windowsill is not practical - they will be too tall.

Having sorted out the heat and light, take a cutting as described previously, but do not pinch out the growing tip. Let the plant grow, pinching out any side shoots as they appear, but not the top growing tip. Do not remove the leaves lower down the stem as the plant grows, these are providing it with it's energy.

As the plant grows, tie the stem to a cane every set of leaves - this will support the plant and keep the stem straight. Feed and water as for a normal cutting.

Decide on the height of stem you want - in garden centres standard fuchsias are normally sold on stems about 75cm (2ft 6in) or so - the higher the stem, the longer the plant will take to grow, but the more spectacular it will be.

When the stem has reached the required height, allow another three sets of leaves to develop, then pinch out the top growing shoot.

Treat the fuchsia as normal from then on - it's really just a bush fuchsia on a long stem. At this point, most magazines, books and internet articles end, but the story is not complete - see the next page for solutions to a problem you will certainly encounter with standard plants of any kind!

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