Yes, they are considered late to leaf out. A large magellanica molinae was starting to bud out at the time of our February freeze and was hit hard. It is now starting to rebud. Smaller hardy fuchsias in my garden are only now starting to show signs of life, with sprouts starting at the base but evidence of viable buds beginning to climb up the stems. With the return of warmer weather, you should see some pretty fast development over the next few weeks. It is very common to get dieback on these, so I don't recommend cutting back very hard until they really start producing foliage and then removing the deadwood and trimming for size.

Some of mine are showing signs of growth and some aren't. I'm not cutting off the deadwood until I see quite a bit of growth.

I'm worried about a couple that I had just planted in the fall. I was on a business trip during the Arctic Blast and was unable to mulch/protect them.

Don't give up yet. :)

Thanks, I'll keep an eye out for signs of life!

Mine are only beginning to sprout, and only from the ground. Looks like everything above ground couldn't take the prolonged cold we had in Dec. and/or the cold snap we had late winter, but I'll wait awhile longer before cutting them back.

Ditto from PDX... new shoots from the base are about 3" tall now. I swear they weren't there last weekend.

About the same signs of progress here and it does appear that they did freeze to the ground. I began trimming back cautiously and found no signs of life down to 4 inches. Well established fuchsias grow back in one summer....up to 4' in one growing season. Looks like I lost 'chickadee'. jwww

Hurray! New growth just beginning around the base of 3 of the plants. Thanks for your advice! Some hydrangeas and trees are also waking up. Amazing how many visible changes can bee seen over the past week.

Too bad I hadn't read this information before I pruned half of my fuchsia off - now it's sprouting leaves up the branches that I missed!! Oh, well, there's always next year.

The problem started because I moved it to a sunnier location last fall, and since it had always died to the ground in the former spot, I assumed it would do the same in the new one. Wrong!!

By the way, mine is the one with variegated leaves.

-Gord

That is probably a cultivar of F. magellanica. Does it have thicker, smaller, slightly rubbery leaves with greeen, cream and pink? That one generally seems to be a bit hardier. I have one potted that I do drag into a cool greenhouse and it keeps leaf and bloom all winter and has gotten really huge. Outside and in the ground it only froze to the ground one year ( that year in the early 90s when it got below 10). jwww

Yea, I now see signs of life on all of my hardy fuchsias. Mostly just at soil level but I was worried about a couple so I'm excited.

My hardy fuchsias were doing fine - until that hard frost. I have one that's been in the ground for several years and does beautifully. The branches that were protected are now leafing out, but the unprotected branches (that I would have pruned off anyway) are dead.

I bought several pots of hardy fuchsias last year (since my old one has done so well), and they were leafing out also UNTIL the frost. All the branches were killed to the soil level, but as of yesterday, new growth is coming from the roots, so there is hope yet! YEAH!!!

Daphne
Tacoma

Mine should be dead, because I have a ton of them in gallon pots outside, completely unprotected through the whole winter, yet they're definitely growing back, even from the tops - I have magellanica and hatchbachii... and I'm in a cold part of Seattle, where at times the frost and fog settles for days and doesn't go away.

I have 3 of them, and only one shows signs of life. i am especially concerned about the one that is about 10 years old and was actually a start from an old garden in Everett. That plant has been so tough over the years, but this year I didn't cover it with an evergreen bough like I usually do in late December. i am going to be pretty disappointed if I killed it.

help me. i bought 9 varieties of hardy fuchsia as i thought since the tag said zn. 7 or 8-10 they should grow in texas. AFTER the plants arrived i decided to question my texas buddies about growing fuchsia. not a soul can grow fuchsia here. one lady has some variety in a pot that she moves around and it is doing good she says. the texas folks say fuchsia can't take the heat or low humidity we get after it doesn't rain to speak of for a year. lol. but a zn 8-10 plant to me means it ought to love the heat. what's wrong with my logic here? anyway i am trying to trade these plants as i don't want to kill them although i really want them. so this is my last ditch effort to find out what it is that i don't know before i trade them away and will never see them again. thanks for any information. barb

The key is keeping their roots cool. Here in the NW they do fine in full sun if the roots are cool. This can be accomplished by planting them deep (sinking the crown 4" to 6" below the soil or 1/2 the plant height for a small pot) and mulching. Not at all sure if this method would help with your level of heat. Have you tried contacting the grower you purchased your plants from? Good luck with your plants. JudyWWW