Yes. Fuchsias. Not Fushias. Named after the renowned German botanist Leonhart Fuchs (Fooks) should help you to remember how to spell it. I know, I am a pedant, but it really annoys me when people and even nurseries get the name wrong. I have always loved fuchsias from being a small girl. I think it may stem from the numerous fairy stories I used to read. The flowers look like dainty bells hanging down or ballerinas in tutus or simply elegant ear-rings. I know I have a somewhat vivid imagination. Those fairy tales. I have always grown them, leaving behind a particularly precious (given to me as a cutting by my father) and rather large shrub when I moved in with the current OH. I did however take cuttings and grew them on in my next garden. Move number two and a couple of those were dug up and potted on and taken with us. Somewhere between moves three and six my fuchsia got lost / died so I started again with a cutting from my mother in law’s garden. To that very ordinary fuchsia (red and purple, single flower) I have added several more tender varieties over the years, most of which died off during the cold winters (having had nowhere to shelter them) though one or two managed to survive. This year I have bought several new very small plants – all hardy varieties – and have been potting them on during the summer as they grew. I have been delighted to see all of them in flower. And a bonus is that the S&S tend to leave them alone. Let’s have a look at six of them this Saturday:
- Fuchsia ‘Alice Hoffman’. This is a reliable hardy fuchsia with bronze-tinged foliage and small semi-double flowers with rose-red sepals and tubes and a white corolla.
- Fuchsia ‘Hawkshead’. A magellanica type with green tipped white flowers. Looks like a snowdrop. I am astonished at how many flowers have appeared on this very small plant.
- Fuchsia ‘Tom Thumb’. Another common one, but fully hardy and flowers prolifically as these photos show. A single flower with carmine pink sepals and mauve-purple corolla.
- Fuchsia ‘Genii’. This has bright yellow leaves which contrast nicely with the elegantly curved sepals in cerise, cerise tubes and a reddish-purple corolla.
- Fuchsia ‘Beacon Rosa ‘. An all pink affair with single flowers.
- Fuchsia ‘ La Campanella’. This is a tender variety and shares a pot with a Pelargonium so has been brought inside for the winter months. I really should extricate her from this pot and give her her own space as she is a very pretty flowering fuchsia. The attractive semi-double flowers feature white tubes and pink-white sepals with deep purple corolla that changes to light violet as it matures.
Next year all these shrubs will be going into pots for the north-facing courtyard garden where I hope they will be very happy.
If you really want to see some interesting fuchsias then please pop over to Jim’s site where he has many more of these underrated shrubs.
See here for the participant’s guide.
Cornwall in Colours 
I have struggled with this spelling more than any other plant name! I love ‘Hawkshead’ with those green tips!
Must admit I was paranoid about checking the spelling after I wrote this! It would be typical for me to have slipped up somewhere! Hawkshead is fascinating, I never realised it had the green tips.
Love your fuchsias. Here in Ohio, you only see them available in spring for they rarely survive our hot, dry summers.
They are cheerful shrubs and I used to have them in hanging baskets, but I haven’t done those for several years.
I’ve always loved Fuchsias but it would be nearly impossible to grow them here without a greenhouse or shade house. It’s amazing just how pretty and delicate they can be from the simple ones to those that have very frilly puffy skirts. I really enjoyed reading about yours, Jude.
There are lots of different shapes of flowers as you will have seen on Jim’s link. I just like how they resist being eaten by the S&S!!
Beautiful fuchsias Jude. I have a lovely hardy, climbing one called Lady Boothby.
Ah, yes. Jim mentions that on his site, it is a lovely colour too. I might be adding to my collection next year!
Hawkshead looks lovely and I quite like that last one too. They’re a bit fussy and girly for me in the main, but Lisa is a big fan. Funny what captures the imagination. 🙂 🙂 Happy Saturday!
Anything that the S&S don’t eat is welcome in my garden Jo 🙂 One very big downside of this climate.
I had a lot of these in my very small city garden, when I lived in Surrey Docks. They were so easy to grow, and didn’t seem to be affected by pests. I used to enjoy removing the dead-heads, and waiting for the new flowers to appear. 🙂
Best wishes, Pete.
They are usually easy to grow, maybe time for you to get some more?
Fuchsia is an easy spelling in French. I read that the English are still struggling to pronounce this word! I also grow Alice Hoffman and it is true that it is an hardy one.
Hard to pick a favourite here, Jude. They are all so beautiful. I have heard many strange ways of pronouncing Fuchsia and until now I thought I’ll never get this right in English!
Few sher. Is probably about right Dina.Soften the ch to a sh sound. Which is why it gets misspelled I suppose.
Such a beautiful selection of these wonderful flowers, Jude! This is one plant I would grow more of if I had the space.
I am hoping that they will grow well on my north-facing side of the house. No direct sun, but plenty of light. Add some colour to an otherwise boring space.
Let’s hear it for pedantry if that leads people to say fuch-si-a.