Finally, fuchsias
I mentioned last month that I have finally got some fuchsias for the greenhouse – well for me really! I am still paranoid about fuchsia gall mite but I have mentioned that already so will not repeat myself. I have three hardy fuchsias in the garden. I did have four but the variegated ‘Tom West’ passed. I am delighted that ‘Lady Bacon’, which has to be the most exciting of the ‘very hardy’ fuchsias, is thriving. Hardiness in fuchsias is a grey scale and much depends on location and how cold the winter actually is. There are ‘hardy’ fuchsias with large, double flowers like ‘Garden News’ but I don’t actually like them. It is just a matter of taste but I like fuchsias, to be incorporated into borders with hardy plants, with small flowers. But small doesn’t mean boring and ‘Lady Bacon’ is really special. I do find that it blooms in flushes and after a late spring display it was rather dull for the past two months but.. now it is flowering like crazy.
My plants are to the north of the cotoneaster hedge so only get sun in the morning at this time of year and this shows off the flowers perfectly. It has very small leaves and I often find it difficult to find shoots suitable for cuttings but it is otherwise easy to grow.
We all know what fuchsias look like. They are shrubby with opposite leaves. They have hanging flowers with four sepals and four petals and eight stamens – though these numbers will vary if the flowers are double. So why on earth have the botanists not meddled with Fuchsia procumbens and moved it into a different genus. For here we have a creeping plant with alternate leaves, flowers that face upwards and that have no petals. And I love it.
The flowers are small and are a strange mix of yellow, green, black with red stamens with blue pollen – mad! The flowers seem to be full of nectar but apparently the pollinators are not fully known. The flowers are also supposed to be of three kinds, either male, female or hermaphrodite but my flowers all appear to have a fully developed stigma and to have lots of blue pollen. Despite this I have not had any of the large, red berries which are much more showy than the flowers.
This is a fuchsia from North Island, New Zealand where it is rare but is easy in cultivation though not frost-hardy. Curious rather than immediately beautiful, like the other New Zealand species, it has a charm if you look closely.
The Biking Gardener 
I love fuschia, but not quite sure about that one…
‘Lady Bacon’ is a great performed in the garden; perfectly hardy here and well over 2 metres high. ‘Hawkshead’ is another small-flowered cultivar which performs very well in the garden – and there is another one which looks exactly like ‘Hawkshead’ but has pink flowers which can romp along.
One of my others is what i thought was Hawkshead but is deeper. It always gets cut to the ground by frost whereas Lady Bacon keeps her twiggy framework.
Late in replying as usual – I wasn’t getting the photos but happy to say I am now. A bit of trouble with my iPad I think combined with a weak signal for a while. I’m glad I looked back as I’m in love with Lady Bacon. I will look out for that one.
I never saw ‘her’ in the UK but she is moderately common here. I will try to find some shoots to root for you.
Thanks so much. I have one that is cream variegated with very pale pink flowers. Interested in a swap next season?