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.

Marin Glow - Bush

'Marin Glow' makes a nice compact sturdy bush about two feet high or so. Another nice one to mix up the heights in a collection. Some of the smaller varieties can be a bit "lax" in the strength of their short branches, but not 'Marin Glow.' It has a definite upward growth pattern and is one of my favorites in the front yard.

A Second Look at Magellanica

I also wanted to mention that this same form comes in other colors. Fuchsia magellanica is a standard red and purple. I will have that one soon. Right now they are just tiny little starts.

Here is a second view of the bush F. magellanica molinae.