Hot summer nights usually spell decline and death. I hear they have better luck toward the PanHandle (cooler nights).

Mr. Breeze,

I hate to be discouraging, but I have this thing about being honest, so here goes. I fell in love with fuschias in my early 20s and had to have a couple. It was a dreadful mistake.

The great gardening guru in Texas, Neil Sperry, would say on his radio show that he felt it was wrong or unethical for Texas nurserymen to sell them to unsuspecting folks who didn't have a chance of keeping them alive. Stubbornly I kept buying them for a few years. And they kept dying. I finally learned to take Neil's advice and steer clear of plants that couldn't handle our summers.

I could never keep a fuschia alive past late May or early June, and sometimes not even that long. That said, maybe breeding advances have created some additional heat resistance over what they had 20 or 22 years ago when I tried them.

I went just now and got out my copy of Neil's last book (or at least the last one I bought before moving to Oklahoma), "1001 Most Asked Texas Gardening Questions" which I still refer to since our climate is similar. Here's what he says on fuschias:

"Q: Can I grow fuschia in Texas, either as a flowering houseplant or out on the patio?"

"A: They can't handle temperatures above 80 to 84 degrees. If you had a cool, bright, winter greenhouse, fuschias would probably have a good chance, but don't count on them after April. Unfortunately, it's hard to find fuschia transplants in the fall or winter, and by spring their time is limited."

So, I guess if you keep it inside in an air-conditioned house and you have a window where it gets really bright light, it might have a chance.

Sorry to be discouraging, but felt it better that I tell it like it is. By the way, even knowing all of this from experience, I still want to buy a fuschia and take it home whenever I see them in a nursery. But I don't let myself do it.

Good luck with yours.

Dawn

I love them too (remembering the ones Mom had in my childhood)had a basket of them in my hand yesterday...but put it back and settled for a bougainvillea.

~Heidi

Heidi:

Good girl. :) It was hard putting it back, though, wasn't it! :(

Your bougainvillea will enjoy the heat so much more than the fuschia would!

Dawn

I bought two of them last year, even though I knew better - one in a hanging basket, and one bush type that I planted in a cylindrical shaped container that sits by my front step. Placed both in my very shady, mostly cool front yard. The bushy one lasted longer than the hanging basket, but neither made it all the way through the summer, even in this very shady spot. Sorry. I agree, it's unethical for nurserymen to sell stuff like this that has no chance here. Very irritating. But, Heidi, I didn't know we could grow bougainvillea here.

Dawn, it was hard indeed putting it back. Mom's were always so beautiful.

okprairie, you can grow them here if you put them in a container to bring indoors in the winter. Another one of those that love our heat..but not our cold.

I have a peeve too about tags that mislead. I have bought 2 bottlebrush plants in the past 2 years with tags that said it could stand temps down to 10 degrees. I made sure each time we even got close to the teens that it was covered nicely. But I lost each one each winter. After doing research(finally) I read that they generally can't stand temps under 30 degrees. Now why couldn't the tag state that? Oh yeah...cuz then I-and others- wouldn't have bought them.

~Heidi

Heidi,

Like you, I have learned the hard, hard way to take those plant tags with a grain of salt. I try really hard to do my research and know what I am getting BEFORE I buy it, but still make mistakes.

I saw a Texas Mountain Laurel on clearance at Wal-Mart a couple of years ago. It was really small but it was only $8.00, so I thought, well, why not try it?

Why not? I'll tell you why not. Because I knew it was a zone 8 plant and even freezes there sometimes if an early cold spell hits before it has sufficiently hardened off in the fall. I knew I was in zone 7. I knew I didn't really have a microclimate that would protect it, as my land sits in a "frost pocket".

For a couple of winters it squeaked by and rewarded me with lovely purple blossoms that smell exactly like Grape Kool-Aid. Well, this year it froze and it froze really hard, practically back to the ground. It was probably the pre-Christmas cold front and snow that got it. It looks terrible now, and I am debating whether to remove it or not.

My tree is pruned back to about 4" tall, and shows no sign of wanting to live. It's not quite dead, but very close.
Worst of all, I KNEW it was a really slow grower and I knew that if it ever froze back really hard, it would take it forever to recover.

So, I knew better and bought the tree anyway, and see what happened. I don't know if I'll ever learn. The optimist in me wants to believe I can push the zone limits, though I know in my microclimate I probably cannot. And you are going to laugh, but I was looking at a Bottlebrush tree this past weekend in a nursery. I think the tag said hardy down to 10 degrees and my thought was "what a lie!" So, I am learning. Slowly.

Dawn

Hey thanks to everyone for the responses.

It does sound discouraging, but I do like a challenge. If I can get a masdevalia orchid to bloom in my bedroom...I'm not going to fear a silly fuchsia! haha And if it dies, oh well...they'll make more.

My back yard is almost total shade from three mature Oak trees in the middle. And if this year is anything like last year...maybe it won't get so hot. I'm also thinking that a white-washed clay pot might be worth a try. The clay should help to keep the root ball cooler, and the white would reflect heat. I could also make sure to water it well just before the sun goes down so that evaporative cooling would take place for cooling. And I could always bring it inside when it gets really hot. I'll be moving out quite a few of my orchids...and that will free up some bright flourescent lights in the house that I could use for the fuchsia over the hottest part of the summer. So I think ...its worth a try! (especially since I already bought it..haha)

Mr. B.: Good luck. And, if you keep it alive through the summer, let us know so we can annoint you King of the Fuschias. And, you know, if you manage to keep it alive, you will give a lot of us "fuschia lust" and we'll have to try to duplicate your success next year. Now, see what you've started! :)

Dawn

LOL, sounds like me..ask the questions afterwards. :-)

I too like a challenge now and again. My currants and gooseberries are my challenge. I love those fresh berries and want them so badly. They are not available locally so I bought the plants 3 springs ago and promptly killed them in our hot sun. I bought more last year and rethought my planting area. This year they are all leafing out well and all 3 of my goosberries and one of the currants are blooming right now!
~Heidi (whose mouth is watering for the sweet tart taste)

Yes, our sun is formidable after 10 am in summer. You have to take some grains of Oklahoma common sense even with what the industry calls "full sun" plants (unless they're native to our region or a similar intense climate).
I guess that's part of the fun of gardening....trying, learning, etc.

Okay - here's my 2 cents. Within the last few years they have discovered that there do exist perennial or "hardy fuchsias". Ones that will survive in zone 7. I myself have no experience with fuchsias, but I have noticed that some of the better known plantsman are offering them in their catalogs - Plant Delights for example.

For a similar comparison, for the longest time, people thought that begonias (not the typical garden variety) were not hardy, nor heat tolerant, and people could only grow them indoors in a greenhouse or home environment. Within the last few years, they have begun to discover that many of the species (like grandis or boliviensis) are much hardier than thought, and heat tolerant as well. Consequently, you are beginning to see new hybrids of the hardy types on the market. Heronswood nursery has been hybridizing grandis and now we have B. grandis 'Heron's Pirouette', and perhaps another one or two. Many of the tuberous begonias, for example, were thought to only be growable in the cooler northern and eastern states, but now we have more available that are heat tolerant as well.

Check out the Heronswood and Plant Delights online catalogs for the hardy fuchsias. I think they even have a toll free number that you could call and discuss with them. And you can google "hardy fuchsias" on the net.

Apparently these new hardy fuchsias are more tolerant of heat and will survive our temperate winters as well. If you really like them, I always say, take a risk and try it.

Susan

I have tried for many years to grow fuchsias here without much luck. I even tried Gartenmeister Boneset variety (that I saw at HD recently)3 different summers. Usually I could get them into August, but none survived the summer into fall. However inthe spring of 2003 I purchased 2 varieties locally from the provenwinners line of plants. They were Angel Earrings "Cascading" and Shadow Dancer "Marcia" and they both made thru the last two summers in pretty good shape. I put them in coir hanging baskets with am sun and mostly shade the rest og the day. They have to be watered daily during the summer. The first one I took cuttings from last fall and was able to get one to root. In the fall I hang the baskets in my unheated garage and water very sparingly. Over the winter most of the leaves drop, but once it starts to warm a little in Feb. they start to leaf out. I have purchased fuchsias by mail order in the fall before but couldn,t get them thru the winter in the house, But the garage routine seems to work well.

My mother and I were at the nursery picking up some plants for her garden today and I saw the fuchsia and fell in love instantly. She insisted on buying it for me even though I was skeptical about it being able to survive Oklahoma summer. It is the variety which I think, is Blue Eyes. The blooms are a bright pink and purple color. I asked a few different nursery workers about it and they said that it will have the best chance of survival if kept in a shady area outside and brought indoors during the hottest part of the day during the summer when the temps go over 90 degrees. They also said to keep it watered well and mist the leaves a couple times a day when it's hot. It is in a hanging basket. It is the most georgeous plant I have ever seen in my life. The little un-opened blooms look like chinese lanterns and the opened bloom are so complex and gorgeous. I hope it survives and I plan on really coddling it through the summer. Keeping fingers crossed here.

Maybe you can take cuttings in May or so, to have for the fall? In case you lose the big plant?

I don't know much about rooting them, but I bet you could find something on the net.

Susan

Prbphys,

Thanks for the info on the Proven Winners fuschias!!!! You know, don't you, that now we're all saying "gotta find one of those fuschias"! Well, at least I am saying that. I think it is time to go plant shopping.

Dawn :)

Don't try to grow then in the panhandle of Oklahoma. I've owned two in OKC in a low of shade cool temperatures, I can't get the silly things home before they start dying. LOL
Good luck on growing them. I have seem one or two on a neighbor's porch, never paid any attention as to how long they survived.

I try to grow them every year. They last until about late June or early July for me.
I still buy them because I love them. I just treat them as I would a bouquet of flowers, enjoy them while they last.

Debbie,

I guess that is a good way of looking at it! And, a lot of plants I couldn't grow well years ago are growing for me now, so I guess I have improved as a gardener and perhaps the plants have had some improvements bred into them too.

Dawn

How disappointing. I just came in from gardening to look up my beautiful new purchase all full of hope for this wonderful plant!! I bought one from Walmart today. It was the best looking one in the bunch. They had them hanging in the sun with a big "SHADE" tag on it. I thought it just needed a little TLC and asked for a discount (whoppin 10%) But...it was SO beautiful even wilted I would have bought it at just about any price. Well I guess I will enjoy it while it lasts. I have already bragged and shown it off to all my neighbors and hung it right in the kitchen window under a big covered porch. So I guess we will just see how it goes. (SIGH)