Your exposure sounds about right. Your climate is not ideal but hopefully you are close enough to the Atlantic to buffer temperatures. The vast majority of Fuchsias like mildly cool, humid weather year-round. Hot, humid weather is bad because it breeds diseases that kill them, hot dry weather turns them crisp and dead. Generally, they get sluggish in hot weather; their chemistry is optimized for cool temps. Most of them can stand mild frosts BUT a few can't, and growing in hanging baskets their roots are exposed and if their roots freeze, that kills them.

Ideal places are like coastal Oregon and northern California, Madiera, Ireland, west coast of Great Britain, Atlantic coast of France and Spain, much of New Zealand, south-central Chile (where some are native), Tasmania, etc.

1. Watering

Fuchsias are NOT particularly fussy about OVER watering. Just make sure that their soil stays reasonably aerated. Because they are in hanging baskets they are unlikely to have standing water at their roots (unless you have one of those types with a saucer under it--which is bad), which would suffocate them. In hot weather you might have to water them DAILY. I would water over misting. They like humidity, but the problem is that fungal spores stick to wet leaves. Misting works better in drier climates like that of California.

2. Fertilizing (chem. breakdown)

FEED ME, SEYMOUR! Fuchsias are heavy feeders. They are not picky about brand or type, but liquid fertilizers work well with Fuchsias so that's probably the most common thing to do. Miracle grow works fine for Fuchsias. Besides, in hot weather you'll have to water frequently so you have to fertilize frequently to avoid leaching out all the fertilizer, OR you can use time-release pelleted fertilizers.

The usual warning about nitrogen making growth at the expense of blooms doesn't seem to apply to Fuchsias--they bloom on new wood and they NEED some new growth to bloom. A "balanced" all-purpose type is usually OK BUT if they get chlorotic, check if you need fertilizer for acid-loving plants. That's usually only necessary in parts of the country with strongly alkaline water.

3. Dead-heading/'New Arrival Pruning"

As for new arrival pruning, I suggest waiting until you can see how the Fuchsia is responding to its new environment, and see how vigorous your particular type is. Highly-bred (overbred) Fuchsias are sometimes lacking in vigor; if yours is one of them go easy on it and only pinch it when it needs it. Wild Fuchsias and some hybrids are rampantly vigorous, and if that is so you can safely prune them fairly severely without worrying. Fuchsias have amazing regenerative abilities and can regrow vigorously from seemingly badly damaged wood.

The "pods" are actually berries and by the way they are edible although usually bland (I happen to have the one exception, F. boliviana, which produces mildly sweet and somewhat palatable berries). When ripe they are soft, juicy, and dark reddish-purple. If you get hummingbirds (that would be "Ruby Throated" in your part of the world) then you might actually get berries. Most of the time yours probably won't be pollinated and will fall off on their own. Darker and shiny--hmm, maybe something IS pollinating them! If you do get berries, you can snip them off if you like. Exactly where isn't too critical--you could snip the stem that connects the berry to the branch (ie, just past the berry, before it connects to the branch), but leave the branch alone. The stem that connects the berry to the branch doesn't do anything else and is expendable.

Thanks.

That was, by and by the most informative lesson on Fuchsia Q&A ever.

I came back from work and it was about 80 today, my little greenbabies are not so happy. Mildly wilty in a sparsely moist pot; I watered them, and plan on checking in on them in about an hour. It's pretty shady, and generally a little windy on the third floor of this apartment.

My BF is a transplant from California, which might explain the fascination with Fuchsia---he thought they had a strong scent to them though, which they don't.

>>Mildly wilty in a sparsely moist pot;

Oh boy this is going to be a hard summer. Just FYI, there is at least one species that takes heat better than others: Fuchsia triphylla. It's surprisingly common and it has several forms and hybrids. It is not coldhardy at all and would need protection in winter.

>>My BF is a transplant from California, which might explain the fascination with Fuchsia---he thought they had a strong scent to them though, which they don't.

Most of them are quite scentless, being pollinated by hummingbirds which have virtually no sense of smell. BUT Fuchsia paniculata sometimes has a scent, and so do several of its hybrids. These are fairly obscure and you are unlikely to ever meet a scented Fuchsia. There are Paniculata-Encycliandra hybrids that are scented, and these include "Lechlade Tinkerbell" (trace), "Neopolitan", and Gondoliers".