by Thompson & Morgan | Jun 27, 2021 | Gardening Posts
Fuchsia ‘Riccartonii’ still looks fabulous more than 150 years after it was introduced
Copyright: Alamy Stock Photo
Fuchsia plants lend exceptional flower power to modern border schemes and container displays. But did you know that they were first introduced to the UK in the 18th century? Brush up your knowledge of the genus Fuchsia with plant breeder Charles Valin as he journeys from Victorian London to the cultivars we know and love today.
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Since the first seed catalogue was published in 1855, Thompson & Morgan has grown to become one of the UK’s largest Mail Order Seed and Plant companies. Through the publication of our catalogues and the operation of our award-winning website, Thompson & Morgan is able to provide home gardeners with the very best quality products money can buy.
by Caroline Broome | Jun 21, 2021 | Fucshia
Hardy fuchsia ‘Hawkshead’ produces delicate white blossoms
Image: Fuchsia ‘Hawkshead’ from Thompson & Morgan
Hardy fuchsia plants are excellent all-rounders, showcasing a fabulous range of flower forms throughout the season. From delicate four-petalled blooms to blowsy giants, they’re a great way to brighten up gloomy or problem areas of your garden. Here, T&M blogger Caroline Broome explains how she put her two newest fuchsias to excellent use…
Hardy Fuchsia magellanica ‘Alba’
Fuchsia magellanica ‘Alba’ glows in a shady corner of the garden
Image: Caroline Broome
I think hardy fuchsias are the unsung heroes of the shady garden. I’ve had the same Fuchsia magellanica ‘Alba’ shrub for nearly twenty years now. It came with us when we moved to our present house 17 years ago, and when it got too big for its space 2 years ago, we moved it to a larger site. It now thrives, giving us a profusion of delicate pinky cream tear-drop flowers on its 4ft high frame every summer.
Mind you, moving it was no mean feat! We waited until the end of March (the worst frosts are pretty much over by then in London) and with fingers firmly crossed, cut all its ½ inch thick stems back to 6 inch stumps. The root ball was 18 inches wide and it took both of us to shift it 10ft to its new home. David had to use a pickaxe to dig it up and then again to dig its new hole, our soil being solid clay by 8 inches down. But within 1 month, small green shoots were appearing around the base and it looked fantastic!
I can’t think of many plants that provide so much interest for up to 6 months of the year. Especially in inhospitable and difficult conditions like dry shade, where they often require very little attention. All I do is cut ours back to about 20cm from ground level in late March, and apply some specialised T&M granular fuchsia fertiliser and manure mulch. I water the base of the plant thoroughly about once a week or every ten days throughout the growing season. If it gets too large, I trim it back to fit its space. As it flowers most of the way down the stem, this doesn’t affect its performance. I’ve partnered it up with Abelia grandiflora ‘Edward Goucher’, which mirrors it in size and colour.
Half-hardy Fuchsia ‘Springtime’
Giant flowered fuchsias look especially good spilling over from baskets and tubs
Image: Fuchsia ‘Swingtime’ from Thompson & Morgan
This autumn I planted Fuchsia ‘Swingtime’, by contrast a miniature half-hardy bush. At about 18 inches high and 18 inches wide, it’s still flowering in winter in semi-shade. Fuchsia ‘Swingtime’ produces large white and pink flowers, which look lovely paired with the cool white and green foliage of my Pittosporum. The shelter of surrounding evergreens and a trellis in well-drained and mulched soil should be enough to keep the shrub insulated from frost, but that depends on what this January brings. Watch this space!
We hope you’ve enjoyed this excellent blog post about fuchsias. Visit our fuchsias hub page for more resources to help with growing and caring for your fuchsia plants. Remember to share your fuchsias with us over on our social channels. We love seeing your gardens!
By Caroline Broome.
Caroline Broome has been gardening for more than 20 years. Having passed the RHS General Certificate, she has since developed her East Finchley garden into a “personal paradise” that she and her husband invite the public to visit each year via the National Garden Scheme. Learn more about our contributor using T&M’s ‘Meet the experts’ page.
by Holly Taylor | Jun 4, 2021 | Gardening Posts
Fuchsia ‘Pink Fizz’ produces flowers from top to bottom
Image: Fuchsia ‘Pink Fizz’ from Thompson & Morgan
Climbing fuchsias combine vigorous vertical growth and exceptional flower power. Forget straggly honeysuckle, clematis, and virginia creeper – climbing fuchsias offer a classier alternative and they’re much easier to prune! Here are some of the best climbing fuchsia plants to try in your garden.
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by Kris Collins | Jun 1, 2021 | Expert Update, Flowers, Fuchsia Festival, Gardening News, Gardening Posts, Petunia Parade
A recent Thompson & Morgan survey has revealed some surprising habits, when it comes to summer hanging baskets.
Love them or loathe them, nothing sets up the garden for summer like a vibrant display of hanging baskets. Thompson & Morgan, the UK’s leading mail order supplier of seasonal hanging basket plants, asked the nation’s gardeners how they use hanging baskets to best effect. The findings were most interesting…
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Kris Collins works as Thompson & Morgan’s quality control manager, making sure customers new and old are kept up to date on the latest plant developments and company news via a wide range of media sources. He trained in London’s Royal Parks and has spent more than a decade writing for UK gardening publications before joining the team at Thompson & Morgan.
by Kris Collins | May 24, 2021 | Gardening Posts
Fuchsias require very little care to put on a fantastic show, but for the best displays it pays to learn a few simple tricks and tips. Take a quick look at the T&M horticultural team’s trade secrets, and make sure your favourite fuchsia plants look their best all summer long.
Best growing conditions for fuchsias
For a fantastic fuchsia display this summer, here’s how to get the conditions right:
- Plant in fertile, moist, but well-drained soil, with shelter from cold, drying winds. Ahead of planting, work plenty of rotted compost or manure into the area with some slow release fertiliser.
- In patio containers and window boxes use a 50:50 mix of multipurpose compost and soil-based John Innes No.2 compost. Again, add some slow release fertiliser ahead of planting.
- In hanging baskets, stick to multipurpose compost to keep the weight down, but add some Swell Gel to reduce watering needs in the height of summer.
Best places to plant different types of fuchsia
Depending on the type of fuchsia you prefer, follow the ‘right plant in the right place’ rule to get the most from these elegant blooms:
- Use hardy fuchsia varieties for permanent planting – use as specimen shrubs or seasonal floral hedging.
- Use trailing fuchsia varieties in baskets and containers at height or as seasonal ground cover.
- Use upright fuchsia varieties in patio containers and window boxes or as gap fillers in the border.
How to grow on fuchsia plug plants
Young fuchsias are frost-tender and need to be grown on in warm, frost-free conditions before planting out at the end of May or early June. As soon as your plug plants arrive, pot them on into small pots or cell trays filled with multipurpose compost and wait until it’s warm enough to plant them out.
Early training:
- Pinch out the soft stem tips once the plugs have put on three leaf sets – simply remove the tip and top pair of leaves with scissors, snips or fingers. This encourages bushier, compact plants and more flowers.
- Pinch out 2 or 3 more times once each of the resulting side shoots has developed three pairs of leaves – the first flowers will start to bloom 5-8 weeks after the last pinching.
Later training:
- The early training above will create a bush.
- You could experiment and create a fan or espalier, similar to fruit tree training. This is best done with hardy varieties and done over several years to create a truly impressive flowering wall shrub.
- It’s easy to train a standard fuchsia (long bare stem with a lollipop canopy), but it can take 18 months to achieve. For more in-depth instructions, see our full article on growing a fuchsia standard.
On-going maintenance:
- Feeding: Fresh compost should supply enough nutrients for 4-6 weeks of growth. Start to offer a balanced liquid feed after this time, once or twice a month through the season. Alternatively, for fuss-free feeding with impressive results, mix our long lasting Incredibloom® plant food with your compost at planting time for 7 months of controlled feeding.
- Watering: Keep compost and soil moist at all times. In the height of summer, baskets and small containers may need watering twice daily – do this early morning and late evening to avoid scorching the foliage.
- Deadheading: Look for faded blooms every time you go past your plants – the more you remove, the more your plants will bloom.
Try a little tenderness!
While there are some fantastic hardy fuchsias available it’s usually the tender varieties that provide the most impressive floral displays. You can overwinter container plants in a frost-free location for re-using the following year – but you might not need to! Tender varieties are getting tougher and tougher and you may find they’ll survive winter in your garden soil with little to no protection.
Experiment this year with one of your favourite plants – leave it in place at the end of the season, cutting it back by a third and mulching around the base. With luck you’ll be rewarded with re-growth next spring. If not, you can always reorder fresh plug plants in spring for guaranteed success next summer. If you’re looking for more help with growing and caring for your fuchsias, there are links to plenty of handy resources on our fuchsias hub page.
Author: Kris Collins
Kris Collins works as Thompson & Morgan’s quality control manager, making sure customers new and old are kept up to date on the latest plant developments and company news via a wide range of media sources. He trained in London’s Royal Parks and has spent more than a decade writing for UK gardening publications before joining the team at Thompson & Morgan.
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