Fuschia 'Lady Bootby'

Hi, I bought a 6" plant of the above from a car boot sale back in June; it has been grown and transplanted in to larger pots and trained up a home made cane trellis, the plant now stands at about 4ft tall.

I know they are described as perfectly hardy, but as mine is still in a pot (unitl I've sorted its planting spot), would I be best to give it some winter protection other than the usual bubblewrap/fleece wrap around the pot??

Its a fantastic plant and doing really well, still flowering strongly too :thumb: so I'd hate to loose it...

Thanks in advance

 

I dont have Lady Boothby Bilbo and not seen it growing .

But it would be a shame a shame to loose it.

Can you bury it in a deep trench .

I would have had it planted in the ground in the summer growing with the pot plunged in the ground.

You may be best to give it good protection free of frost.

See what others think that are growing fuchsias.

Hope you can save it.

 

Thanks Kath, I've no doubt I'll save it (well I'll do my best not to :D), I'll bring it in to the shed or outhouse if I have to :thumb:

As we haven't really had any real cold yet its still actively growing and there's plenty of flower buds coming, where as my non-hardy fuschias are now finishing.

As our garden is one in transition (we've only been here 3 years) I've been growing lots of stuff in pots, getting them ready for when I need them; I've just planted up a perennial bed. So that's why I've not got round to popping it in the ground yet...

 

Hi Bilbo
I have not grown Lady Boothby but saw a very large plant at our local garden centre a while back .
I would tend to put it somewhere frost free if possible then get it planted early next year ...As you probably know even hardy plants in pots can suffer frost damage if weather is very cold . Could you take a few cuttings as insurance ..

Dave

 

Hi Bilbo

Mine died over the winter but I gave my mum a plant and planted it by her front door it has the shelter from a bay tree and the wall , but I think the reason my mums survived , was the tea pot was emptied every day, and over the year it must of had at least 6 inches of tea leaves around the roots all the top growth died but it resprouted from the grond and I was only at me mums last week and it doing realy well.
You will have to bring it in and even kept in a cold green house would be useless if we have another winter like the last one we had


Spruce

 

I have one of these too but bought as a fairly large plant. It's huge now! I am not sure what I think of it, pretty flowers but is very leggy and you have to tie it into shape. It's still flowering nicely.

Mine is by the front door and sheltered so I am leaving it where it is.

Do you prune fuschias back? It's so big. Or should I just leave it. Thanks!

 

I did find some information on the internet that suggested that once established if a lot of the top growth survives the winter then every 3rd year the older stems should be removed and younger shoots tied in to replace them.

Other information recommended cutting frost damaged stems back to healthy buds in the spring and generally shaping the plant, at the same time removing any weak shhots.

Either way the shoots do need to be tied to a suitable support as its not a natural climber..

 

Here is my good 'Lady Boothby', I'm very happy with here progress since buying her :D :thumb:

 

Mine came through last winter - unfortunately I didn't know that it had until after I had pulled it out and chucked it on the compost in May. Two weeks later, I spotted the shoots just breaking out as it lay discarded on the heap!