Fuschia Lady Boothby - advice needed.

iant473

Hi all
Im a new member so please be gentle with me  plus Im a complete newby at this gardening lark.
Last summer, we bought a couple of the aforementioned Fuschia Lady Boothby, and planted in the correct compost in tubs approx 20 inches in diameter and 24 inches deep. We had an absolutely fantastic display at the back end of summer and well into late October.

All the advice says to prune in early spring, yet in our case there is nothing to prune.  We just have bare stems about two inches long, everything else has gone. Neither plant is dead, one has signs of half a dozen shoots from the stems just above soil level, the other has signs of only one shoot. I thought these things were hardy?

I am thinking of replacing these as I feel the harsh winter has done them no favours, but my question is, will pots of this size take more than one plant or should I just go with one plant per pot.

The pots have frames over them to secure the stems as they grow.

autumnglory

I prune the bare branches of mine back to a couple of healthy looking shoots when they start to appear. Fuchsias tolerate hard pruning.

If there is nothing to prune, just leave them and see how they do this year. Mine is pretty neglected in a pot and it comes back fine every year.

Lizzie27

They are hardy, but they do die back over the winter and drop all their leaves. Mine is just beginning to throw out new shoots which should then grow like mad with the hopefully warmer weather - the cold winter has set most plants back by a couple of weeks or more, so don't lose hope just yet! I would stick with one plant per pot.

Marlorena

I feel sure these will come back fine for you.   They can shoot up from the base 6 foot every year...  much too early still to worry about it, plants make rapid progress from late May...

iant473

Many thanks for your replies. I will try not to be an instant gardener and give them time.

treehugger80

when it says prune in spring it means remove all the dead bits above the ground, after this winter it might be everything above the ground, you have to wait for growth and cut back to it. I tend to treat fuchsia like herbaceous perennials, trim in autumn and cut back to the ground in spring, particularly in cold winters, but they bounce back just fine.

Kitty 2

All my hardy fuschias still look "twiggy". As Lizzie said, the cold winter has held a lot of stuff back a few weeks.
I wait for new shoots before I prune mine, usually in late March early April. This year they've only just started to show in the past few days.

Having new shoots showing is a good sign, give it time and it'll soon be bushing up again.