Fuchsia (Upright) Care Guide
By Jessica Mcnamara
Mar 11, 2021
Welcome to your Fuchsia care guide! Here you will find all of our Growers' knowledge of how best to look after your Fuchsia, and what to do if you get stuck.
Plant name: Fuchsia
Latin name: Fuchsia magellanica
Varieties included: Fuchsia Jollies series
Fuchsias are unique in their appearance – their teardrop-shaped buds are known to pop open to reveal some of the most beautiful blooms, in shades of pink, purple red and white.
The upright fuchsias will look great in your patio containers, garden beds and borders. With so many varieties to choose from, they will complement almost any colour scheme in your garden.
Hardiness: Tender
What does this mean? These fuchsias are not hardy and therefore will not tolerate frosts. Be sure to plant them out after the spring frosts have passed.
Before You Start
If you are planting in a garden container, make sure it is clean and has drainage holes in the base. You will need a good quality compost, trowel, watering-can and gloves may also be useful (although we do encourage getting your hands dirty!)
Planting Guide
When planting directly into a garden bed or border it is often best to lay out your plants on top of the soil in the pots so you can make sure you plant them in the best place to get the overall visual impact you are wanting (remember when doing this, they will grow much larger than their current size, so don’t worry too much about gaps!)
If planting into a patio container or hanging basket, fill this up with compost, adding some large stones or gravel to the bottom couple of inches of the container (not the hanging basket) to provide drainage (this isn’t essential but it can help). Leave about 2cm of space at the top of the container once you have filled it with compost.
Once you have decided where the garden plant is going dig a hole a little bit bigger than the pot size in your bed, border or container.
Next, take the plant out of the pot. This can be done easily by squeezing the sides of the pot between your thumb and fingers, then releasing your grip on the pot. This helps the roots come away from the pot.
Then hold the plant by the base of the stem, close as possible to the pot and remove the plastic pot. Hold your plant by the root ball and position in the middle of the hole.
The top of the compost around the plant should be a little lower than the level of the bed / border. If you need to dig a little deeper take the plant out and make the hole a bit deeper.
Once the Fuchsia plant fits in the hole you can twist it around to get the best side of the plant facing forwards. When you are happy with the position fill the hole back in around the root ball and firm the soil back in.
Finally give the garden plant a good water, wherever possible trying to avoid getting water on the flowers.
Avoid planting during the hottest parts of the day. They prefer to be planted during the cooler part of the day as this reduces their stress levels.
Positioning
Fuchsias are best in sunny gardens – it doesn’t need to be sunny all day long, but some sun will help them to thrive and bloom all summer long, with new buds coming through all the time.
Watering & Feeding Guide
Fuchsias in garden containers need to be watered regularly (they can’t soak water up from the soil like plants in beds and borders can do). Those planted in garden beds and borders do too, however these conditions are a little bit more forgiving to forgetful waterers.
On the hottest days, we recommend you water every day – but of course, just check the soil before hand and if it feels wet, maybe skip that day and check back the next day.
Fuchsias will benefit from a feed every week or so; a multipurpose feed will be great for this.
We also recommend using a special potting mix compost for your containers, ensuring your plants have the best nutrients to get them started in their new surroundings.
Soil type: Best in a neutral or alkaline soil, that is free draining. A good potting mix will provide the ideal conditions in your garden container or hanging basket.
Top Tips
Dead head any faded or dying flowers to prolong the flowering season and keep your Fuchsia producing new buds.
We love Fuchsias here at The Growers – the bi-colour blooms are simply stunning, and they are unique in their shape and appearance. A must-have for outdoor spaces of any size.
