Black Magic

'Black Magic' is another beauty. I'm not usually fond of the doubles, but this one looks like it is going to be a vigorous and bushy upright. Not all fuchsia bushes take the same form. Some are very dense and bushy on their own, others need to be clipped because they put out such long branches. Those are the ones best suited for a large open space where they can show off how wide they can get :-) This one is putting out plenty of short upward branches on it's own. And the branches appear sturdy enough to handle the extra weight of these larger blossoms. Some double fuchsias tend to give under the weight and their branches get pulled sideways.

Plus this one is growing faster than most of the other starts purchased at the same time. So it is something to look forward to.

Billie Green

'Billie Green' was another mistake, or so I thought :-)

It looked too much like Gartenmeister Bonstedt to me! And that one just shouts boring at me!

They are members of a "Section" of fuchsias called Triphyllas. They are "cultivars" of Triphyllas. They have red tinged foliage and long tubular corollas. And as far as I know, are always a shade of orange or close to it.

But 'Billie Green' has won my heart. It's not only is a heat champion, it is growing faster than almost any other fuchsia cultivar I have except 'Cardinal.' The blossoms have a wonderful pink, almost "peachy," tinge to the orange. And it is always covered with hundreds of blossoms. I would say it is crowned with blossoms. The hummingbirds are certainly happy with it :-D

Ben Jammin

'Ben Jammin' is a cute little thing, isn't it? Cool name too! It doesn't grow very fast. And I am expecting it to be more of a low mounding bush that won't get too much higher than maybe two feet at best. But it would look really nice flowing over a wall or trained up a trellis. Actually, this one just might be a very good candidate for my experiment with fuchsias as indoor blooming houseplants... Because it wouldn't get too big, too fast and have to be cut back all of the time. I think my kitchen window needs one of these!

Beauty of Cliff Hall

'Beauty of Cliff Hall' has quite a name, doesn't it? It is a beauty though! Another simple flower, a bit bigger than most of my favorites, but still very nice. I am fond of the ones with the white sepals that contrast so well with brightly colored corollas. This one is not the fastest growing fuchsia among the uprights. But it does have a nice compact form to it. It isn't going to get leggy on me anytime soon. It also was a champion in this summers heat wave. Not a scorched leaf on it! I think this one is going to be like a smaller version of Duchess of Albany.

Bashful Lady

'Bashful Lady' is not listed as being a winter hardy upright, but I am hoping she will turn out to be one. This isn't the best photo I've ever taken, and I will replace it as soon as it recovers from the heat wave we had late this summer. It is growing well now, but did sustain some damage. Sometimes the heat combined with full sun just causes them to grow much more densely than they would otherwise. Which can make it seem as though they are growing slower. And sometimes if a fuchsia sustains sun damage, it was because they were transplanted too close to the time of year when extremes in heat can be expected and it doesn't have time to grow a root system which would enable it to deal with the extremes in heat. This one probably would have been better off in an area with a little more protection from the sun. But growing upright fuchsias out in the open is a very important part of the entire plan here. Next, I'll be finding out which ones can handle the cold.
And on an entirely different page, I am also going to try my hand at growing a few varieties as indoor blooming houseplants. I have heard of this and want to see how that goes.
Plus, I have planted three varieties as bonsai! There is a whole website devoted to fuchsias as bonsai. I think it is a great idea!

Barbara Hanson

'Barbara Hanson' was a bit hard to track down! It is listed on the FindThatFuchsia website, but with no details. Which is unusual, as they list the colors of the sepals and corolla, the form (upright or trailer), the country a variety was hybridized in, the hybridizer, and the year a new variety was hybridized. The records go all the way back to the early 1800's! If possible, they also provide a photo of the fuchsia flower.

In this case, the photo has been provided by the Vallejo Fuchsia Society in California. I am a bit surprised FindThatFuchsia didn't even list the colors of this blossom. The double corolla is such a striking color with the purple fading into pink at the top of each petal.

This is one more I will be waiting on to see how big it will get. So far, it hasn't grown as fast as most of the others. It could be not as heat tolerant as they are. Perhaps it will surprise me now that the weather has cooled off.

Autumn Orange

'Autumn Orange' has a wonderful shade of dusky rose, so much like the leaves of autumn and not the colors one would normally associate with fuchsias. Like all of the fuchsias in my collection, it is an upright bush. And like so many of them, it is a new one for me and is not yet very big. So it will be a while before I see what it looks like as a bush.

I know I really need to update the website with photos of my fuchsias as full sized bushes. That is one of the promises I've made which makes Pedricks Corner (the website, not this blog) different. All the other websites just give you a peek at a flower. Most of the time, you can't even see what the leaves are supposed to look like. One of the remarkable features of fuchsias is that the foliage of each variety is as unique to that variety as it's flower! A practiced eye can tell what variety a fuchsia is by just it's foliage. There are very few other plants one can do that with. Fibrous begonias are another, and they too, originate primarily from South America!

So my goal is to show examples of each variety of fuchsia in my collection as both a close up, and as a full sized bush. What form a bush will take, should impact ones decision in acquiring new varieties that are going to be part of a landscape.