Thanks for viewing! I had quite a few problems along the way. This fushia almost died on me.

Today it looks much better but it has funky leaves!

I have had a lot of close calls!

What does funky mean in reference to fuchsia leaves? They look pretty good frm here.

Thanks Jean. I should have worded that better. Some of the leaves have a weird shape. I am honestly not too worried about it though.

I'm just happy it bounced back! :)

Now I am trying to save my lilac. It's starting to look a little better.

It's going to bloom!

Are you located on the West coast by any chance? Wild guess from
searching Fuchsia leaf deformities but could it be Fuchsia gall mites on
the new leaves? If it is sites suggest removing "funky leaves" and
trying neem oil spray in attempt to protect remaining leaves. Others
speak to strong chemicals to kill mites but you may not want to go that
way particularly considering you have roaming animal pals.

Good
luck. I always figure I'm ahead of the game when I see blooms. The
echinacea came up really well for all the seed performance question.Given
you're growing in black pots keeping things planted that way can stress
sufficient even water to avoid plant stress making them vulnerable to
anything that could attack them. Ask me how I know? :-)

We are on the west coast! After looking I see how you knew that. Now I am worried! I just thought the leaf deformity was from the spraying I did with copper. I don't know why I thought that. Haha :( We just got over spider mites. This poor Fushia.

I am slowly buying more pots too. The black ones are all I have right now untill free or very cheap comes along. :( I am going to buy this one a new pot asap. Thank you so much for the tips!

I am so envious of your Echinacea.

I 2nd the fuchsia gall mite possibility. If that is what it is the whole plant will be lost unless treated. Snap off the branch underneath the deformed foliage and burn it or plastic bag it. Hummingbirds, bees, etc. can bring the fuchsia gall mite so it's nothing you're doing. We saw no fuchsias in the nurseries here for over 5 years because of it. Ugh if it's back.

It seems likely that it is gall mites. I just read that the California coast has an established population. I hope it doesn't spread to my other fuchsia. And I just realized I've been spelling fuchsia wrong my entire life. Ha. I'm going to work on this a lot tomorrow. In a hazmat suit! It was growing back so beeautifully after I got rid of the spider mites.

I'm also comforted in knowing I didnt cause it, I have a lot of bees and I feed the humming birds too! This is the first year that I've REALLY gotten into gardening and these problems scare me sometimes but I am growing now too thanks to all of you lovely folks. :)

Aww My Echinacea was a beautiful accident. After nothing happened I googled it and I read some people freeze their seed before sowing. I guess frying the seed works too! Haha

Satchitosan, I had same problem when I went out to price large containers. Major sticker shock! I went to see what plants a local nursery had on sale & there were very large containers in piles at the back. Turns out here in NJ they recycle containers after doing landscaping jobs. Asked how much to buy them & was told "if you can get them in your car & out of here you can take what you want." Score! Had no idea how large 25 gallons was but took a few. Took lots of potting soil but they were huge & gave roots room to grow. Maybe you can call landscaping companies/nurseries to see if they'd do anything similar. Calling is cheaper/easier than driving around especially if it's some distance for you. Come back & let us know if you find large containers because there are things you can do to keep soil from leaking out & take up some space to lighten amount potting soil you need.

I had no idea about the Fuchsia gall mite problem until you showed "funky" leaves, Satchitosan. That is a shame, Irisgal, because you're lucky enough to have year round weather to accommodate them. I got one for balcony of my first apartment & was shocked one Fall day to say "good morning" to a very sad frosted plant!

Satchitosan, if you want to see a heavenly garden to feed the soul Irisgal has it. Iris, naturally, but perfect companion planting. Pics alone make me very happy and satisfied that such beautiful sights exist after much careful work created them.

PS...I kept having to look up the spelling of Fuchsia...kept getting place of the "c & s" mixed up. LOL

I don't know why I never noticed google correcting my spelling fushia! Haha.

I am defintely going to ask around the local nurseries for pots now. Thank you for that idea! I really don't like the black pots, I didn't know they were bad to use though. I try to put most things in the ground if i know I can dig them back up because we don't own our house and I want to be able to take some things with me if we move. Do you think painting them, untill I can buy/source better, would help?

I cut quite a bit off of the Fuchsia today, and I'm going to spray tomorrow morning. Can't wait to see your garden Irisgal. I could really use some inspiration! I found myself so many of these gifted plants i love them all so much but still learning to care for them all.

Oh and I will definitely update! I think this will end up being my little plant journal! My Acanthus is going to bloom!

Satchitosan, after reading Irisgal's comment & reading a couple articles about potted gall mite infested Fuchsias I might actually "trash" your plant. (cringe) Bag it, secure bag & put in regular trash can.

Since it's a laborious procedure over time to treat the mites even with heavy chemicals your chances don't seem great of ridding your plant of gall mites. One thing I'm sure of is that your tools and even hands that come in contact with the plant must be sanitized before you touch another plant. I don't know if a 10% bleach solution is sufficient for gall mite "demise" but that's what I used when working on any type of plants "just in case". Since these mites are more like spiders they are movers that can get on things & be transferred to other plants. That's in addition to the risk of spread by pollinators noted by Irisgal as well as gloves & tools. Don't want it to spread to Fuchsias of other people so I'd have to amend what I said about trying to treat with neem oil if it were my plant. Up to you for your plant...I can obsess on my own!

http://www.americanfuchsiasociety.org/fuchsiaarticles/fuchsiagallmite4-2004.html

By the way, the free large containers I got from local nursery were still black but before I planted anything in them I used a light colored spray paint on outside of containers. That was my attempt to reflect sunlight off containers instead of absorbing it with dark color. I didn't search for something "green" as I didn't think paint chemicals would leach through thick containers. Up to you how "green" you want & can afford to be. I gardened at my late father's place & had containers behind wire fencing to keep deer, rabbits, groundhogs & various other varmints from eating plants down to nibs.

I agree Missmygardens. We have another Fuchsia. It doesnt seem to have any problems right now, maybe it is resistant but I DONT want to wait to find out. It might be best if I just :( trash :( her! "Much cringe!" I really don't want to add to gall mite population. I read an article earlier on the same site you supplied a link from

http://www.americanfuchsiasociety.org/articledirectory/learning-to-live-with-gallmites/

I love Fuchsias but I dont think I am I experienced enough to deal with this long term. I think I should dispose of the plant and spare any Fuchsia neighbors.

I recently bought some light colored "uh oh" paint, at our local hardware store! I'm going to paint the black pots this week! I did notice the Echinacea in black pots did not do as well as Echinacea in the ground! The potted ones get moldy dry foliage and the ones in the ground have new green foliage. Now I know the black pots are the problem. Thank you again!

I've enjoyed seeing your garden! Everyone combines, and embellishes, in a different manner. It is obvious you have fun, and more than a few time I smiled when seeing your personal touches. Loved that sneaky spider--I've had that happen, too. It was a tiny one and I only saw it after enlarging the photo.

I'm on the same wagon about repotting cymbidiums. And then they thank you by pouting the following bloom season--that is not a good incentive tactic! It is funny, but I would rather wrestle repotting some of my potted 6'+ trees (24" into 3'x3' pots) over doing the 6" orchids.

Thank you for looking gyr_falcon! This has seriously been the best summer of my life. Still lots of work to do and I am loving it. So fulfilling. My new found passion has also guided me into choosing biology as my major!

What a cute little arachnid! I love zooming in on the pictures I take of the garden to study the plants a little closer. I find the coolest little critters but then I'll spend hours trying to figure out what kinda bug it is! We recently found this beauty!

I had to google cymbidium. Lol I wish I knew enough about orchids to get more because they are so beautiful! I think I'm lucky that the two I have survived and keep blooming I had no idea they needed special medium. I'm going to have to research and repot very soon though because they look so sad.

Some blooms/ almost blooming from today!

I discovered hundreds of aphids on the Flowering Maple! I sprayed with horticultural oil yesterday. Going to get some more neem.

I've been waiting for what seems like ages for this Salvia to bloom so that I could try to identify it and I *think* I did! Salvia involucrata so pretty with the Echinacea still blooming in the background!

I had a beautiful collection of over 20 year old fuchsias. Big tree forms and old trellised plants. The mites killed them all. If a sick plant is in the area, pollinators will keep bringing the plague back. I had to wait until all the plants in the neighborhood died before getting new ones. The toxins you have to use poison hummingbirds so you need to build something around the plant both to protect the birds and to keep them from reinfecting your fuchsias.