Fuchsias As Bonsai 2012

Most people wouldn't think of fuchsias when it comes to bonsai, but there is even a website devoted to this!  Here is my first effort.  'Amber Rose' is about three years old now and has three trunks twined together which you won't be able to see until I prune it this spring.
A task made difficult when they are blooming!  So hard to bring myself to cut those off!
Some fuchsias grow so big so fast, it would not be a good idea to use them for bonsai.
Others like 'Amber Rose' grow slow and dense enough to make perfect candidates.
If you'd like to see her beginnings, you can check it out in the Fuchsia Forum of DavesGarden.com

Blue Eyes

'Blue Eyes' is another variety which is often grown as a hanging basket, but which will get much bigger and live far longer if it is planted into the ground or a large standing container. This one really didn't require much pruning to create this beautiful low bush. It makes a nice contrast with the other heights and colors surrounding it.

Black Magic

This is just about a perfect upright fuchsia. It doesn't get tall fast. It isn't slow growing. And it just naturally forms a compact bush with lots of blossoms. All it needs is regular feeding and enough sunshine to keep the growth dense.

Autumn Orange

'Autumn Orange' is one of the varieties which have orange tinges to their blossoms and yet are not triphylla's. Most people wouldn't think of orange as a hue for fuchsias! Two others are 'Thomasina' and 'Torch'. And I am looking forward to finding more!

Ain't She Sweet

Like 'Abby Rose', this one could cascade over a wall or edge of a large container. It can also be pruned into an upright form like I have. Just remember that fuchsias can live for over 100 years. But not if they are planted into small hanging baskets with little room for a big healthy root sytem. Over the years they develope thick trunks covered with very interesting bark. Which is one reason they also make very interesting bonsai. One must be careful when selecting varieties for bonsai though. You don't want one of the faster growing cultivars!

Abby Rose

This upright took a bit of training. Some varieties can go either way, upright or hanging. Some call it "mounding" others call it "lax." To encourage a mounding form to grow upwards may require a temporary stake. And it will require pruning all branches growing downwards. The end result is a very interesting form with height it would have taken it many years to attain on it's own.

Barbara Hanson

'Barbara Hanson' did great in the summer heat last year and I just moved it up from a 5 gallon container to a 15 gallon container. She made it through the winter without a scratch. So I am really looking forward to seeing what this upright can do! Can you believe it is the first of April already!

Amigo

Normally, I don't like marbled coloration in plants and in particular, flowers. But 'Amigo' is an exception. And I like how flared the corolla becomes once the blossom is fully open. I will try to get a better shot of it this year. It's blooming right now, but most of my collection is still growing out of the damage from freezing and two hail storms. They look great! Just a bit singed on the ends of their leaves and a bit tattered from the hail. Everything was fed yesterday and now they will really take off!

Anita

If you've been following my posts, then you know I like the simple blossoms the best. This is not one of my better photos, but 'Anita' is one of my favorites and I am really looking forward to seeing how big this one can get this year. It will be it's first spring in a 15 gallon container.

Blue Flame

This little bush is a blaze of color most of the year. Like 'Black Prince' and 'Lord Byron', it is a compact bush with lots and lots of flowers. In the ground with good deep soil, it can also handle the sun and heat. This winter we had much colder than normal weather, even two hail storms, and 'Blue Flame' did just fine!

Margery Blake

Did you know hummingbirds tend to like the smaller flowered uprights more than the big doubled flowered cultivars? They seem to have more nectar. The flowers are usually more abundant. And I think the nectar is just easier to get to on the smaller non-double blossoms. This here is 'Margery Blake' and she's definately one of my hummingbirds favorites. I've been told that is also has to do with how much closer these cultivars are to the original species, and that hummingbirds seem to prefer species over the hybridized cultivars.

Delta's Parade

I know this isn't the greatest photo, and I know I have posted about Delta's Parade before. But gee, this guy is always in bloom! I have never seen this bush without flowers on it! And to think I didn't really like it when I first added him to my collection..... This is another photo I took this January.

My Mum

This photo of 'My Mum' was taken last fall and I may have already posted it. But it is doing so well and weathered the freezing temps we had here with flying colors, that I had to post it. It is growing next to an F. bolivian and an F. boliviana alba, both of which had to be covered during the worst freezes. And both of which had every leaf in contact with their blanket, burnt to a crisp. 'My Mum' helped hold that blanket up off of other areas of the boliviana's and didn't get a single singe!

Delta's Groom 2011

Delta's Groom is not far from Foxgrove Wood and as you can see, he is getting ready to bust out all over!

Foxgrove Wood 2011

Foxgrove Wood is already covered in these little bluish and pink blossoms! This is one of those I keep in the front yard right along the pathway, as it is almost always in bloom.

Quasar - Bush

'Quasar' is often grown in hanging baskets, but I prefer it as an upright. It creates a mounding shrub which contrasts well with all of the giants I've got growing this year! Even 'Vinegar Joe' is surprising me with it's height. Many of the uprights I added to the collection last year, which I purchase in little 2" bands, are taking off like rockets this spring. I had transplanted almost all of them into five gallon containers by fall of last year, just in time for winter. Most of them barely made it to the rim of their containers. Now those same ones are making me decide who needs to go into 15 gallon containers first! 'Sundial', 'Convention 2004', 'Ain't She Sweet', and 'Lottie Hobby' will be followed closely by 'Sylvia Barker', 'Margery Blake', and 'Carmen Maria'.

I admit this photo of 'Quasar' is from last year. But it is doing just as well this year and is currently covered with big white flower buds. When those pop open, I will certainly be taking a new photo!

Preston Guild - Bush

'Preston Guild' is amazing me this spring! It has never grown so tall before or even grown so emphatically skywards! For the first several years, I had it growing next to a fence and it never did very well in the shade there. It was with some concern that I moved what I considered to be a weak stemmed plant, out into the full sun. But the full sun seems to be exactly what this guy wanted. This photo was taken this morning 5/1/2010.

Northway - Bush

'Northway' is one of the smaller upright fuchsias I hope will become popular. It has such cheary colors. This photo doesn't do it justice. There was a run in with a gopher which almost killed it and it is now recovering nicely in a container. As soon as it begins to bloom like this again, I'll take a better photo. Like 'Delta's Parade' this one is a trouper which can bloom year round in some zones like this one, zone 9b. Even when we have freezes and hail, these two don't skip a beat. And like 'Marin Glow' and 'Black Prince', it stays relatively small and compact. A nice contrast to the taller ones.

Mrs. J. D. Fredricks - Bush

'Mrs. J. D. Fredricks' is one of the first varieties I went in search of when I began my collection. This one can get allot taller than the information out there will lead you to believe. It can get much taller than just three feet over the years as it developes a trunk. My original was broken and doesn't reflect how big it ought to have gotten by now. But it is recovering very well and this photo is of a group of one gallons I've planted from the cuttings I made a year ago. They are already two feet tall. I also cut a bunch of these branches and made a floral arrangement of them to post in the fuchsia forum at DavesGarden.com As fuchsias make great and long lasting additions to floral arrangements!

Mood Indigo - Bush

'Mood Indigo' is just blowing my socks off this spring! I am waiting to take a new photo of it as a bush until it begins to bloom again. In the meanwhile, let me tell you, it is putting out new shoots as big around as my thumb! It is headed for the sky in a big way! I had no idea it could do that. This one was a bush in my yard for a couple of years and never really did much. But in it's defense, I must mention that my entire yard is hard pan clay. In the summer when it dries out after the winter, a pix-axe will just bounce off of it. So over the years, while it is still workable after a winter of soaking rains, I have worked hundreds of bags of steer manure into it. And I have built up beds using concrete building cinder blocks as walls. I plant herbs and strawberries in the holes! The original 'Mood Indigo' was in a relaively shallow area. The ground had not been worked down very far and then a gopher ate out the entire root system one spring. I thought I had lost it entirely. Except that I had made a few cuttings.... And now, just two years later, I have several which are much larger than the original. I love the colors on this fower and I can't wait to show you what it looks like in full bloom later on.