LADY’S
EAR DROPS
Family ONAGRACEAE
Fuchsia species
Perennial
A colourful genus, comprising about a hundred
species mostly native to tropical America, with
a few in New Zealand.
Shrubbery plants with opposite, oval leaves clothing
stems that vary in height and bear flowers with
recurving sepals, the petals forming a tube from
which the stigma and anthers protrude conspicuously.
Of the hardy species that may be grown in favoured
localities out-of-doors, Fuchsia macrostemma (syn.
Fuchsia magellanica) of Chile has several varieties,
notably conica, with carmine sepals and purple
tube;
corallina, crimson and plum;
globosa, purplish-red;
gracilis, scarlet and purple;
pumila; scarlet;
thomsoni, red and purple;
and riccartoni, crimson and purple.
They may be grown in the open border or, better
still, against a south wall in good well-drained
loam. Fuchsias are often cut to ground level by
hard frost, but invariably produce fresh growth
and bloom freely in the same year.
Propagation is by means of cuttings of half-ripened
wood in late summer.
The flowering season is from June to October.
Fuchsia
Perennial
Hardy and Half Hardy
2 to 4 feet.
Flowers of various colours, June to September.
The well-known large-flowered race of Fuchsia
are woody plants of a decidedly tender constitution.
As a rule they are grown in pots for greenhouse
or room decoration.
They may be planted out in
May or early June, when the spring frosts should
be things of the past, and if well looked after
and trained will make a fine show till the autumn.
For this purpose healthy young plants in pots
should be obtained in May, or cuttings may be
struck about August in boxes of sandy soil, and
kept through the winter in a cool greenhouse secure
from frost.
There are several kinds of Fuchsias which are
practically hardy in any English climate.
Their
flowers are not nearly so large as those of the
tender kinds, but they form handsome bushes, and
are covered with very graceful pendant blossoms.
The best of these are Fuchsia globosa, Fuchsia gracilis,
and Fuchsia Riccartoni.
They form a hard woody stool,
from which every year a sheaf of flowering shoots
rises.
These shoots should be cut off in November,
and a good dressing of leaf-mould, old manure
and wood ashes should be scattered over the crown
of the plant, and for a foot or two all around
it.
In mild climates, such as those of Devonshire
and Cornwall, the growth survives the winter,
and almost reaches the dimensions of a tree.
The
hardy kinds may be increased by cuttings of the
tops of the flower shoots, but in general it will
be better to take off a section of the root.
A
row of Fuchsia gracilis or Riccartoni forms a fine
hedge in a garden, and may be left undisturbed
for a good many years without deterioration.
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