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Fuchsia (Leonard Fuchs, 1501-1565, German professor of medicine, and a botanical author). Onagraceae. Handsome and popular flowering plants of greenhouses, conservatories, window-gardens and open grounds, blooming most freely in spring and summer.
Shrubs and small trees, with opposite, alternate or verticillate simple lvs.: fls. mostly showy, axillary or sometimes racemose and paniculate, usually pendulous, in shades of red and purplish and with some of the parts often white; tube prolonged beyond the ovary and bell-shaped to tubular, with 4 spreading lobes; petals 4, sometimes 5, or in some species wanting; stamens usually 8, often exserted; style long-exserted, the entire or 4- lobed stigma prominent: fr. (seldom seen under glass) a 4-loculed soft berry.—Seventy or eighty species, the greater part in Trop. Amer., but 3 or 4 in New Zeal. They are very variable in character. The common fuchsias arc known to us as small herbs, but most of them are shrubs in their native countries F. excorticala, of New Zeal., is a tree 30-40 ft. high, whereas F. procumbens, of the same country, is a weak, trailing plant. Of the many species, less than half a dozen have entered largely into garden forms. The common garden kinds have come mostly from F. magellanica. This species was intro. into Great Britain from Chile in 1788, or about that time. It is variable in a wild state as well as in cult., and plants subsequently intro. from S. Amer. were so distinct as to be regarded for a time as separate species. Even at the present day some of the forms of F. magellanica are commonly spoken of as species, so much dp they differ from the type. As early as 1848, 541 species and varieties—mostly mere garden forms—were known and named (Porcher, "La Fuchsia, son Histoire et sa Culture"). The fuchsia reached the height of its popularity about the middle of the past century. At present it is prized mostly for window-gardening and" conservatory decoration. The garden forms of the present day are with difficulty referred to specific types. The long-tubed or so-called speciosa forms are probably hybrids of F, magellanica and F. fulgens (Figs. 1603, 1604). Others are evidently direct varieties from the stem types. There are many full double forms. For the history and the garden botany of the fuchsia, see Hemsley in the Garden 9:284 and 11:70; also Watson, the Garden 55:74.
In mild climates, fuchsias make excellent outdoor shrubs, some of them withstanding frost. These are of the F. magellanica group. They are familiar to travellers in Ireland, and they may be seen as far north as the Shetland Islands. In California, many of the fuchsias are excellent and popular subjects for planting in the open. Under glass, forms of F. magellanica may be grown into large rafter shrubs, where they produce great abundance of bloom.
Fuchsias are among the most ornamental and popular of the cool greenhouse flowering plants. They may also be used in summer as bedding plants, and they are among the very few flowering plants that will bloom in the shade. If fair-sized specimen plants in 10- or 12-inch pots are desired, the best time to root them is the end of August. The best cuttings are secured from suckers that start from the base of the plants that are bedded out. The cutting should be 3 inches in length, and if the intention is to grow large specimens, pot them singly in 2-inch pots, in three parts sand, one part loam, and another of leaf-mold. Place the cuttings when potted in a shady position in a temperature of not less than 60° at night. When the very small plants are well rooted, shift them along into a pot 2 inches larger, using this time a compost of equal parts of loam, leaf-mold, and sand and add a third part of well-rotted manure. In this size of pot, the shoot will have made four or five joints, and should now be pinched to encourage side breaks. The plant, where it is stopped, will start into two breaks, and the strongest should be taken for a leader; pinch the weaker one when two leaves are well formed. Strict attention from now on should be paid to keep the plants in good shape. The side shoots must be kept in bounds, so that the symmetry of the plant is preserved, pinching "the stronger ones hard and allowing the weaker to grow a little longer so that they gain more vigor. The leader may be allowed to make six pairs of leaves, and then be stopped, always choosing the strongest breaks to increase the height of the plant. Potting should be strictly attended to, never allowing the plant to form a mat of roots around the ball before it gets a shift into a larger pot. The potting material for all future pottings may be composed of two parts good fibrous loam, with an equal amount of well-rotted horse-manure, one part flaky leaves, and one part sharp sand. The whole should be as rough as can be conveniently used when working it equally around the ball of the plant, in the potting operation. It is necessary to have a good straight stake down the center of the plant to support it in an upright position. When the plant is well established in the pot in which it is desired to flower it, manure waterings will be in order, as these plants are gross feeders when in active growth. Green cow-manure, fertilizers, and soot secured from soft coals agree well with fuchsias. The amount to be used is an ordinary handful to two and a half gallons of water. Water twice in between with clean water. Give the last pinch to the plants about six weeks before they are desired to be in full flower.—For bedding-out purposes, cuttings may be rooted in the spring, and grown on into 5- or 6-inch pots. Old plants may be kept through the winter, in a cool light pit, from which frost is kept. Keep them rather dry during October, November, and December, only giving enough water to maintain the wood plump. In January they may be removed to a temperature of 50° by night, allowing a rise of 10° or 15° during the day. This temperature, by the way, is most suitable for fuchsias after they are rooted until they come in flower. After it is seen where all the live eyes are on the old plants, trim them into shape, and remove all the dead wood. Turn them out of the pots, and remove all the loose dirt from the ball with a hose with a gentle pressure of water on it. They may be potted in the same size of pot, and when well rooted in that, give them a shift two sizes larger. Pinch the plants two or three times during the winter, and one will be rewarded with better plants the second year than the first. If well attended to every year, fuchsias may be kept for many years, attaining an enormous size. Fumigate with hydrocyanic gas, during winter, and that, with syringings on all bright days, until they come in flower, will keep down insect pests. (George F. Stewart.)
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