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One
of the benefits the great days of European empire building was
the range of new plants being introduced into European horticulture
with every new conquest. Fuchsias were unheard of by Europeans
until after the seventeenth century.
The
discovery of this startling new plant is credited to one Père
Carolo Plumier, who discovered F. triphylla in Dominica
in the first decade of the 1700s. He was a French Jesuit monk
and ardent naturalist employed in Latin America as Royal Botanist
to Louis XIV to seek out new plants of possible commercial value
to the French empire.
Plumier
named his new plant in honour of Leonhard Fuchs, the 16th century
German botanist whose texts, including the landmark De Historia
Stirpium of 1542, he had studied and admired. By the late
1700s the Fuchsia had entered European horticulture and the first
plants, probably F. coccinea, were marketed commercially
by English nurseryman James Lee. Early specimens fetched high
prices but this of course was before their ease of reproduction,
both spontaneous and artificial, was fully realised!
Acquisition
of these new and exotic plant discoveries was a popular diversion
amongst the absurdly wealthy who vied with each other for the
most startling and impressive collections. Those plants that thrived
in captivity quickly revealed their promiscuity and 'sports' sprang
up eagerly as more species were discovered and introduced into
circulation.
By
the end of the nineteenth century fuchsias had drifted out of
fashion somewhat although their robust persistence ensured their
long-term survival regardless of the vagaries of horticultural
whimsy. World War I just about terminated the ornamental nursery
trade, but the 20s saw a comeback for the Fuchsia and by the end
of that decade the American Fuchsia Society had been formed.
This
is the esteemed body today entrusted with international registration
and classification of all new Fuchsia hybrids.
Early
Australian gardeners usually had access to new plant varieties
within a year of their European release and by the 1880s more
than 400 cultivars of Fuchsia were listed in catalogues here.
While many of these have slipped out of sight behind more flamboyant
newcomers, others have resurfaced under new names. But it was
not until the 1960s that specific organisations took root, culminating
in the Australian Fuchsia Society forming in Adelaide in 1970.
The
early preoccupation with Fuchsias by cool climate gardeners has
meant that what is essentially a subtropical plant has been become
more climatically amenable through the breeding of hardier varieties.
Although they prefer respect as understorey rainforest plants,
they can be made to tolerate a wide range of climate zones, given
appropriate culture and wise selection.
Fuchsias
mostly occur naturally in the cooler mountain areas of Central
and South America, though New Zealand boasts at least two species
growing in similar environments. These include Fuchsia excorticata
or Kotukutuku (try saying that after a few lemonades!), a small
tree whose berries the Maoris ate and called 'konini'. Another
from those islands is F. procumbens, a trailing vine-like
fuchsia with unusual purple and green flowers. The contrasting
forms of these two species alone indicates the range of adaptations
the fuchsia has evolved to accommodate the conditions it has encountered.
In breeding, elements of these variations have resulted in a diverse
range of hybrids in what are now classified as four main groups.
The
cascading basket varieties are the domain of modern American breeders
concentrating on spectacular flower form and colour at the expense,
to a degree, of strength and hardiness. They will thrive best
in a reasonably shady spot, under shadecloth or a verandah with
protection from the wind. The vigour of any particular variety
will determine the extent of its projection out of and below your
basket, thus determining a good hanging and viewing height.
Being container-bound, they will need even more attention to watering
than their soil-based siblings.
Bush
fuchsias are simply compact upright growers, useful for multiple
planting in borders and in front of the larger shrub or flexible
types.
The
shrubs are those rampant wayward stragglers that will grow on
relentlessly without attention in many parts of the country - the
kind of tough plant that survives in rental properties through
generations of neglect. Hardy and tolerant, and if left alone,
pretty untidy too. New soft shoots rocket out each year, adding
to the tangle. In the home garden they must be disciplined severely,
responding well to hard annual pruning and constant thinning of
old wood.
The
flexibles are pretty much like the shrubs but lack structural
integrity to varying degrees and will need early training to a
self-supporting shape or securing against a fence or trellis in
a climbing rose fashion.
Attempting
to match book descriptions and hybrid lists against a nursery's
stock can be a bit like buying lotto coupons, so unless you
are after a particularly distinctive flower you have seen, it's
best to approach the buying process with an open mind. Take
advice from a respected nurseryman as to the plants he has that
will suit your purposes and you're sure to find enough range
of flower colour and form to satisfy. For that particular one
you must have, there are several excellent mail order
growers-look for their ads and take your pick.
Better
still, grow your own from plants you see and like in other gardens.
Fuchsias are amongst the easiest of all plants to grow from
cuttings, striking quickly from soft tip cuttings, or semi-
and hardwood stem pieces as well, so long as there are sufficient
nodes on the pieces you cut. In milder areas you can get away
with simply poking cut pieces of stem into the ground in a shady
dampish spot. In cooler areas, if no heat is available, take
your cuttings in spring or autumn and keep the humidity high,
such as within a cold-frame, glass-house or a simple plastic
bag wrapped over a pot. The usual 3:1 peat/sand mix works fine,
but the medium is not too critical and any potting mix will
probably do just as well.
Resistance
to a gentle tug on one of the cuttings will indicate when striking
has occurred. Pot them up into 10 cm pots of a general-purpose
potting mix to allow the root system to establish prior to planting
out into their final environment. This should be done soon after
striking and the pots removed to a well-ventilated spot to avoid
any fungal problems.
Moisture
is probably the key word to success with fuchsia cultivation.
Their natural hillside environment consists of high rainfall
and excellent drainage along with constant application of fresh
organic matter provided by leaf-drop from the forest canopy.
Think the same way. Water needs to move through the growing
environment, not hang around long enough for fungal diseases
to set in. Watering is best done in the late afternoon, but
not so late that water will stand overnight on the foliage.
Good ventilation is essential.
Containers
used must be able to reliably supply water but the mix must
drain well too, and for that reason the water-well type of pot
with a generous reservoir work very well if you can cope with
the plastic. But even with these, it's amazing how quickly a
healthy fuchsia can drain its supply and wilt. So unless you're
prepared to spend an unreasonable proportion of your time watering,
fibre baskets and terra cotta pots are not so good for fuchsia growth.
A good option if you want to use real 'baskets' is to install
a polytube system along the frames of the structure supporting
the containers with flexible 4 mm tubes hanging down into them
with a dripper at the end of each.
Soil
into which fuchsias are to be planted should be well-drained
and have plenty of organic matter dug in well before planting.
Heavy mulching is advisable to maintain cool even root temperatures
and simulate the constant input of fresh leaf matter on the
forest floor.
Those
leaf-dropping trees will indicate another key to fuchsia success-light,
but not too much of it. The filtered light beneath evergreen
trees or in spots around the house or fenceline that are protected
from long hours of sunlight through the day but maybe catch
it morning or late afternoon. Or not at all. And that shade
provider should protect the delicate flowers and soft leaves
from destructive winds.
Assuming
most of their requirements are met most of the time, fuchsias
are very easy to grow, propagate and enjoy. For months as welcome
companions in leafy retreats they provide a seemingly endless
supply of their luxurious flowers.
The
breeding of 'Jane'
A
number of active Australian breeders have produced many
successful cultivars such as the popular 'Bunga Bunga',
and, of course, the newly-released 'Jane Edmanson'. Jane
joins Kevin Heinze and Ken MacLister, President of the
Waverley Garden Club's very active Fuchsia Group, in a
tradition of honouring contemporary horticulturists by
Melbourne breeder Brian Barby. Ken describes 'Jane Edmanson'
as "a sport of 'Hampshire Prince' - a very nice bloom.
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Tall
and upright in growth, well suited to the person!"Brian
recounts his side of the story: "I hybridize a number of
selected varieties each year by what is called a closed cross-pollination
system. This is a method by which both the pollen parent and
the seed parent are carefully protected from contamination by
birds, bees or any other insects, in order to get a true cross.
The seeds are then sown and the resultant seedlings grown on
and tested for three years."A second method that is somewhat
easier is to recognise a 'sport'.
This
is a phenomenon that occurs quite frequently in fuchsias whereby
a completely different bloom appears on a single stem of a plant.
This bloom is both genetically different to both pollen and
seed parents and also to the other blooms on the plant. A cutting
is taken from this single stem and grown on for three years
to make sure that no reversion takes place. This is what happened
in the case of the cultivar 'Jane Edmanson'."
For
plenty of useful information and advice on fuchsias in
Australia, as well as links to other fuchsia pages and
resources,
I recommend visiting the Australian Fuchsia Society's
website.
Further
reading ...
-
The
Checklist of Species, Hybrids and Cultivars of the Genus
Fuchsia by Leo B. Boullemier. Blandford Press, London,
UK, 1985, revised 1991. hardback
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Fuchsias
in Australia by Lesley Butler. Guyra Publishing Co.,
South Yarra, Vic. hardback
-
Fuchsias
in Colour by Brian and Valerie Proudley. Blandford Press,
London, UK, 1975 and many reprints since. hardback.
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Fuchsia
- The Complete Guide
by Edwin Goulding. B.T. Batsford, London, UK, 1995, revised
2002. hardback.
-
Growing
Fuchsias by Deborah Law. Published 1990 by Kangaroo
Press, Kenthurst, NSW. hardback.
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