Hardy Climbing Fuschias? Mine weren't!!

[Mam]

Has anybody else had trouble with the hard climbing fuschias that Richard Jackson raves about? I bought mine last year and shared them with my daughter. They looked great throughout the summer but are now reduced to a tub full of dead twigs. I heard a T Caller tell him that she had the same problem and he replied with "Just cut the stems back to some green growth". Mine have certainly not got any green growth and neither have the ones I gave my daughter. I thought that perhaps the rather inhospitable climate in my garden (high up in the Brecon Beacons) may have been to blame but my daughter lives much further south and has experienced the same problem.

I sometimes think this man doesn't know what he's talking about. I've noticed that he stresses how easy to grow the begonia corms are but fails to mention that you should avoid overwetting the top of the corm or they'll rot. I happened to hear this on Gardener's World and realised why half of mine hadn't sprouted. Also the Brugmansia (Angel's Trumpet) which he says is so delightful happens to be extremely poisonous. Something I certainly would like to know when buying a plant.

 

[grovesy]

I have only just purchased these. I have some ordinary Fushicas in my garden and some are only just begining to show signs of growth.

 

[Beading Belle]

I bought the tsv with the hardy climbing fuschias and they have been fine (last two years) Just checked mine, as grovesy said they are just showing signs of growth so everything cross your's will be alive too!

 

[sublime]

My hardy fuchsias look just like yours, mam - a mass of twigs.

If you want to check that they're still alive, just look for a stem low down, near the soil.
Using your thumbnail, just scrape a little bit of the 'bark' off and check the colour underneath.

If it's green, then don't worry - your fuchsias are still alive. If you can't find any green stem anywhere, then sorry to say they've probably had it.

But - don't give up yet.

Very often, even when all the top growth is nothing but brittle sticks, fuchsias can grow again from the roots.

Give it another month or so and see what happens. It's only early May, and fuchsias can be slow to get started, especially when we've had a winter as hard as the last one.

By the way, if you find green stems on the plant, it's safe to cut any dead brown stems back to the healthy, living part.

 

[teddybear581]

MAM, mine are looking like dead twigs too. I am hoping they come good in the next few weeks..fingers crossed.
QVC s plants are definitely hit or miss. I bought the hanging baskets with trainling sweet peas and only half of them survived. Of my four Hibiscous only one is showing a tiny bit of new growth but I am still hopefull for the others. I am going to go out and try scraping the bases to see if I fing any green.
Fingers crossed yours come on!

 

[kitten_with_claws]

Which fuchsias were these then? Are they still on the website?

 

[Marion]

Maybe they sent you the wrong variety, maybe they sent you 'hardly climbing' fuchsias.....

Sorry couldn't resist, but I hope it will be as Sublime says and that yours will be ok too Mam.

 

[sublime]

Which fuchsias were these then? Are they still on the website?

Don't know if QVC's still selling them, kitten, but the climbing fuchsia is this one:

http://www.thompson-morgan.com/plants1/product/p6337/1.html

 

[boffy]

fushias are one of the later varieties in summer bedding so dont despair you could start watering it no feeding and see what happens in a month or so time.
plant companies do make me laugh with thier claims though...for example most if not all small flowered fushias are hardy anyways and the ones that t&m and qvc are selling dont actually climb as you have to tie them in...

when buying plants the variety and the condition they come to you are very important the very best advice are "which "when it comes to buying plants that are reliable and a good gardening book or programmes on tv.
which reccomend b&q and phosphrogen plant food as their current best buys and they will only really say something is good if its value for money and the b&q plant food if you can get it is less than £3 a large box.....

the best gardening tsv are the raymond evison clematis these plants give you superb results and are bred by a top pro...

the silly sweet peas and todays tsv are a waste of time and money but people fall for the hype and spend,spend spend...

 

[Mam]

Which fuchsias were these then? Are they still on the website?

They were the hardy climbing fuschias kitten with claws. Yes they are still on the website.

 

[BusyLizzie]

Can't really comment on the Fuschias but, to be honest, I've never been particularly impressed with most of my plants from QVC and haven't ordered any from them for about 3/4 years now. My last lot were BusyLizzies (well I had to didn't I?:3 and they were virtually dead on arrival so I had a full refund and decided that would be my last plant order.

 

[babytoes]

My last years climbing fuschias looked like yours and I thought they had died but now they all have leaves right at the base. I cut them right back when I thought they were gonners and watered them well, next thing I knew they had leaves.

 

[primrose1]

I bought the clematis TSV about 2 years ago that had the obilisk with it, the plants are still going strong and just about to start flowering.
Last year I bought a daisy collection and they took months to get going. I think I left them too long before I planted them, but it still put me off a bit!

 

[boffy]

primrose which clematis set did you get was it the one with the red white and blue flowers...cos if it was what a fantastic show it puts on i love it so very much...

for my mums birthday i bought the pink and lilac set maybe 4 years ago all doubles and i cannot say how sucessfull that is...gives me and my mum so much happiness even sent an e- mail to raymond evison thanking him and hoping that he will do anather tsv as they are really my favs...

 

[rosey]

I got the set of fuschias and geraniums last year which came with dvd's on growing them. I think they have had them in this year too. For the hardy ones it says put some mulch/soil over the plant during the winter to protect it especially if the frosts are really bad, which we have had this winter. Maybe you should have done this. Fingers crossed as I still have some fushias (not from qvc) which have not sprouted yet and they do every year.

 

[kitten_with_claws]

Well, the fuchsia in question, Lady Boothby, has just been back on - all RJ kept saying was it was the world's only climbing fuchsia (not entirely correct, it's just tall growing, though can be trained to a degree), was hardy (yes) & how many blasted flowers will appear on it! Really useful.....not!

 

[primrose1]

primrose which clematis set did you get was it the one with the red white and blue flowers...cos if it was what a fantastic show it puts on i love it so very much...

for my mums birthday i bought the pink and lilac set maybe 4 years ago all doubles and i cannot say how sucessfull that is...gives me and my mum so much happiness even sent an e- mail to raymond evison thanking him and hoping that he will do anather tsv as they are really my favs...

Yes I think it was that set- I moved the pot to a sunnier spot in the autumn and they are going bonkers now!

 

[boffy]

lol thats it primrose they go bonkers(in the most glorious kind of way) the most brilliant plant buy ever on qvc from a really respected grower.
i have to thank qvc for introducing me to these patio clematis.

 

[stuartf]

My hardy fuschias from last year still look like twigs and also have no green in the stems.

I also noted that the yellow geraniums were not sold as hardy this year. Probably explains why mine died over the winter!

Stuart

 

[calico]

My last years climbing fuschias looked like yours and I thought they had died but now they all have leaves right at the base. I cut them right back when I thought they were gonners and watered them well, next thing I knew they had leaves.

I've often found that with fuschias - you think they're dead and give up, then they start growing again. In fact I've got one in my garden now doing exactly that. Almost binned it then remembered my past experiences, left it there and it now has leaves.
My tree hollyhocks are looking very pathetic and brown, and my tree peonies have leaves but don't seem to be doing as well as I thought they might.
The roses I bought are coming along beautifully though.