Specie Fuchsias

Hi .
Does anyone grow Species or Triphylla Fuchsias. I used to grow many varieties but have cut down to allow space for different plants . I still have these three amongst my collection..

Not sure if I have added these or not

Dave

 

0) lovely flowers on them there fuchsias - I don't have any but did buy one & kept it in my unheated greenhouse over last winter, it did not survive. Do you have any tips on keeping them at all please, will they survive better in the garden perhaps, your lovely photos look like they are planted out ? I have plenty of normal fuchsias around the garden, they do well here in Cornwall. thanks

 

Unfortunatly these need winter heat, mine are usually,keep around 50F but will take a little lower ...I grow all mine in pots and plunge them in the garden during the summer bringing back in during October time .

Dave

 

I have Thalia, Koralle, Gartenmeister Bonstet and Firecracker (which I find difficult to root).
They can take 5/6c without any damage if kept on the dry side.

 

What lovely pictures Dave. I have never seen F. Juntasensis before - how big does it grow? Your F. boliviana is stunning, and I am really looking forward to having one of my own. I have just sown some seeds of the alba and have 6 tiny seedlings so far. Do you have any recommendations of Fuchsias to try that are different and stunning.

I have F. triphylla Thalia, Koralle and Gartenmeister Bonstet, and also F. arborescens.

I love the triphyllas, because they seem to hold their flowers above the foliage, as opposed to most Fuchsia which seem to hide them under the leaves. I especially like Gartenmeister with its lovely dark green and purple leaves. I overwinter all of them in a frost free summerhouse, where the temperature may go down to 1C or 2C. They seem to come through OK, but as Strongy says - with little water.


F. arborecens. I love this, its so different from other Fuchsias, and at the end of the year the fruits are attractive as well.

 

Morning Peter,
Glad you like them .I will look through my pictures and try and find some you might like ..I did sow some F.Boliviana and F.arborecens seeds I collected off my own plants a couple of years ago ..germinated very well ,I grow them on and it was surprising how they differed in growth habit...the flowers where identical though ..
I like the F.arborecens flowers ..I have a number of hybrids that have similar type of flower but different habits.

Panique.jpg

Dymph Werker Van Groenland.jpg

Lechlade apache.jpg

Jungle.jpg

heres a few more I have

Dave

 

I've not for years bothered growing the large flowered hybrids that are so readily available, nothing wrong with them, mind, just dont appeal to me anymore, as I said in another post, we move on.

Your specie plants look really good Dave, I'm sure we should be growing more of them.

Your Arborecens is very unusal to me Peter, infact I would not have thought it to be a Fuchsia.

The only species I have is excortica but it hates the weather of the last couple of years.

 

Hi Pete,
I only grow a few odd blousy fuchsias now ,as you say we move on ..
I had F.excorticata a few times but it grew well each time and then just collapsed could see no obvious reasons , I tried plants from different sources but cannot keep it ,I had same problem with 'Firecracker' that Strongylodon mentioned earlier

F.excorticata.jpg

Tara Valley.jpg

IMGP0669.jpg

I also had Tara Valley which had F.excorticata as one parent ..I was more successful with this .. Very unusual plants indeed..

A shot of my fuchsia house in summer ..

Dave

 

I actually grew excotica as a curiosity, being its regarded as almost a tree.

As I say its not done well the past few years but the main stem must be atleast 4ins in diameter, flowers are very early and usually frosted, but some years they come out OK.

 

WOW! everyone......you all pictures are just lovely. Once awhile I run in some of I am guessing regular fuchsia in a store I have bought several of them. I bought seeds once on an on-line source of the alba kind and sad to say not a single sprouted. Can someone help me how successfully germinate the seeds? please.

Thanks,

 

Hi Pete ..

Love it ..
Is it potted or planted out ? I live Northamptonshire and I was told a guy had one growing outside in Kettering (about 10miles away) but yet to see it ..
They grow large in New Zealand and often near the sea, I believe the blue pollen used by the Maoris as facial makeup.

Dave

 

Dave its been outside for at least 15yrs, and during the mild winter spells of a few years ago I had to cut it back hard fairly regularly.

I've always found it difficult to get a good pic of the flowers, as you know quite small, and the blue pollen is rather unusual.
Might get round to trying it out one day.:D

Left to its own devises I'm sure it could be at least 20ft by now.

The strange peeling bark which drops off in large chunks is also a feature

 

Love to garden - I have only grown Fuchsia from seed a couple of times and that was the species - arborescens and boliviana. I used the same method as I use for most seeds, unless I know they need special treatment.

I grow most of my seeds in a small square pots, filled with a mix of 2 parts multipurpose compost and 1 part sharp sand, and water the pot well. I sieve this mixture when I use it for seeds, to make it a bit finer. As Fuchsia seeds are very small I sprinkle them over the surface, and then sprinkle a very small amount of the compost mix on the top. This means that some seeds are uncovered and others are covered to slightly different depths. I then mist the surface to moisten it. You can't water it because you will disturb such tiny seeds.

I put all the pots in a heated propagator with a lid to keep the moisture in. Because very little moisture escapes from the propagator, I only mist the tops of the pots every few days just to keep them moist. When I mist them I usually use a dilute copper solution that is used to prevent damping off (ie young seedlings dying).

Heat seems to help with germination of many seeds, though some require special treatments and temperatures. However I have Googled a few sites and they seem to say use a temperature of 60F to 70F. My F. boliviana seeds have just germinated after 16 days, under these circumstances. They are under lights in my lightbox, but the light won't make much difference to them germinating.

 

Love to garden..
Like Peter I have only sown and grown a couple of Species fuchsias .I use much the same method as Peter with great results . My seeds were home collected and very fresh.

As you may have realised Fuchsias are my passion,I started growing them when I was in my early teens and continued to present day .I have gone through various likes and dislikes in what varieties and types I have grown till arriving with Species and Triphyllas.
I did exhibit in the early days, but work and family left little time as I got older .. Now on retiring I am thinking of doing some Hybridising, using some of the species in my crosses ...

Dave