How to boost the ‘hardy’ factor of your hardy fuchsias in the PNW

FOR SOME, MOTHER’S DAY always has meant glorious hanging fuchsia baskets with flouncy pink and white skirts of ruffled blossoms. Yet those greenhouse beauties coddled into an early bloom develop an unforgiving thirst in the dry season. Let their roots dry out, and the stressed plants quickly drop their buds, blooms and foliage, and struggle to recover.

R. Theo Margelony is a big fan of fuchsias. Three years ago, Margelony transplanted his extensive fuchsia collection from a tiny urban garden in Manhattan to his present home in Portland, where he tends a fuchsia collection that numbers in the hundreds and maintains that the plants are “surprisingly easy to grow.”

The PNW has the perfect climate for cultivating hardy fuchsias as garden-worthy plants and not just seasonal décor. According to Margelony, fuchsia people around here define hardiness as a plant that survives for at least three years in the garden.

Most of us think of fuchsias as shade-loving plants, but Margelony insists you’ll get a showier bloom display when the plants are exposed to more light, with protection from the hottest afternoon rays. In addition to siting your fuchsia where it can bask in the sun, be sure to provide well-drained growing conditions. Hardy fuchsias don’t like wet feet, especially in winter.

Margelony recommends planting fuchsias 6 to 8 inches deeper than the plant was growing in its container. “Fuchsias are like tomatoes; they’ll root from their stems,” he says. In addition to boosting the plant’s root system, planting deep protects plants from winter cold and helps buffer summer heat. Consistent deep watering and 3 inches of mulch help keep plants hydrated and cool the root zone.

Hardiness varies even among hardy fuchsias. Some act like herbaceous perennials, dying back to the ground in winter and producing new shoots each spring. Other varieties act more like shrubs and establish a woody structure.

Hold off on pruning plants in spring until temperatures are steadily warming. “Plants push tender new growth after pruning, which may be damaged by a late frost,” Margelony warns. Waiting also reveals any tip dieback to direct your cuts. That said, some fuchsia growers routinely prune to control size by cutting their fuchsias back to about 4 to 6 inches in the spring. An exceptionally cold spring, like the one we had last year, will delay growth. But once blossoms appear, the show carries on through November, or even into December, before the plant goes dormant.

“Fuchsias in containers are much less hardy than the ones in the ground,” Margelony says. “They’re sensitive not only to cold, but also wet winter conditions.” Margelony overwinters his fuchsias in containers in an unheated garage, where the plants stay cool. Supplemental light isn’t necessary. Brought outside in early spring, the plants are pruned and fed with a dose of slow-release fertilizer. “Then they’re off and running,” he adds.

When forced to name his (current) favorite fuchsia, Margelony chooses ‘DebRon’s Smokey Blues’, a sturdy plant with large sultry red and purple blooms set off against foliage that has a decided bluish cast. “It’s a showstopper,” he raves.

Margelony says fuchsias have been grown in the Pacific Northwest since the 1850s, when a 13-year-old girl traveling with her family along the Oregon Trail carried plants with her to their new home. To this day, cuttings of that plant are growing in the gardens of various family descendants, where they’re simply known as “Grandma’s fuchsia.”

Visit fuchsietum.com to find out more than you ever thought to ask about the care, culture and history of hardy fuchsias. In addition to learning how to distinguish your calyxes from your corollas, Margelony provides an extensive list of Pacific Northwest public gardens with fuchsia collections.