fuscias

hi i wondered if anyone could advise on my fuscia in our front garden? It's probably been there for 12 years-plus, flowered without problem every year. We've never really done much with it and it's come to life around this time annually giving lovely bright flowers every summer. This year it standing about 5ft tall but looks like a bunch of dead sticks. We've pinched one of the branches off and it looks quite green inside.
Wondering what to do? Is it dead? Should we leave it and it'll come back to life? Is this the right time to cut it back (guessing not)? Is there anything we should do to encourage it back to life?
(we stay in Central Scotland).

 

Hi ajw and welcome to the forum.

Leave it for a bit. Fuchsia has the ability to look like a dead stick and then suddenly loads of buds appear from all over the place, rather than just from the traditional leaf joints.

You can tidy it up a bit now, but you might as well leave the heavy pruning until the buds show.

Now for the bad news. People think that most Fuchsias are hardy, as many may survive the winters. But Fuchsias come from warm places like South America, and are not that hardy. I spoke to a friend yesterday, who is a professional gardener, and she said that she had seen more Fuchsias die over this last winter than any other plant.

 

thank you both for your replies. we are not gardeners in any shape or form, and we thought we'd try this forum as it seemed like the friendliest and most helpful. havent been disappointed! will keep an eye on it, prune it back slightly and hope the buds come - its getting a good drink today as its absolutely pouring down.

 

i have a fuchsia in my front garden, looked like a dead twig until last weekend, i almost pulled it out. i gave it a quick trim, and noticed this weekend there are a ton of buds all over it. Don't do anything too drastic yet, think some things are still trying to get going after the hard winter

 

Where theres green theres life :gnthb::gnthb: