Climbing fuchsia, Lady Boothby

Karen,
I tried typing fuchsia Lady Boothby into a search engine and came up with this site:
gardening.co.uk
According to them - Fuchsia 'Lady Boothby', originally introduced in the 1930s, is sold by a number of specialist nurseries and is now becoming more widely available. Reputed to be 'the world's only climbing fuchsia' by Thomson & Morgan, this tall, hardy variety can reach 5m (15ft) if the long shoots are supported or trained against a wall
Hope this helps
AndrewR

Hi Karen , plz let me know how you get on with this Fucshia , ive been looking at it for a while now and wondering what it would be like to grow , I love Fucshia's !

I will most definitely post a comment on these fuchsia but they don't arrive until April so we've all got a bit of a wait!
I've got 12 plants on order so I'm thinking I will try out various sites 1 of which will be in the middle of Salisbury Plain!

Hi,
have you seen the comments about these here?
http://www.uk.gardenweb.com/forums/load/ukgard/msg0420322815386.html

"Who in their right mind thought this was a climbing plant? Where are its tendrils? where are its twining stems? its nothing more than some lanky fuchsia nobody has bothered with for the last 60 odd years that needs sticks to stop it flopping over.
What ever next !!! "
and
"Saw it today.... NOT Inpressed "

Peter

Also at
http://www.the-fuchsia-file.co.uk/fuchsia-lady-boothby.php

Lady Boothby is sometimes marketed as a climbing fuchsia. Whilst it is true that it can grow to a considerable height in a single season this is primarily because it tends to devote its energies to growing long, without branching.

It does not "climb" in the sense of attaching itself to nearby structures, but can be trained by weaving some of its branches through a trellis so that it appears to behave as a climber. In my experience it has to be pinched to encourage branching, and there is a compromise to be made between height and bushiness.

Peter

I have just bought Lady Boothby. I was tempted by the ridiculously cheap end of season price. Of course, now I have to find somewhere in the garden to put it!
Seeing its characteristics, (ie not a true climber and quite possibly prone to lankiness) I've decided to grow it up some chicken wire (wrapped around a drainpipe on the corner of my garden shed.)
I plan to grow sweetpeas with it next year. I think the complimentary planting will work well. (Both in terms of form and colour.) If it succeeds - I'll send a photo...

My dad is buying some of these is it evergreen and how do you prune it?

My husband bought one of these last year. It does not come with instructions and he was wondering if it needs pruning to strengthen it? If anyone out there knows the answer, we would be grateful to hear.

I bought 6 of these by mail order...I gave 3 to my friend and I kept the other 3. Hers died within 4 weeks but my survived and grew to about 4 ft. long. A very boring fuschia and flowers scant. All 3 died over winter.

I was given some cuttings of this plant early this year. Two of them have taken and (presumably because I pinched them out, as you would with other varieties) they are nice and bushy now and flowering beautifully. I have kept them in pots as we are about to move house, but I would really like to know the best place to put them in our new garden and how to prune them. Hope someone can help.

Last year I got a cutting from Hywel ,it is growing slowly in a corner in my garden .

Came through the winter ok ,so is a hardy fuchsia.

Its now established no blooms on it yet and is growing in to a nice shape.

But I would prefer to prune and pinch out not to let it grow lanky.

I bought another one this year and have got it entered into our local fuchsia show .

Lets see but its shape needed staked as it get falling,but have to say its a really nice flower.

I have a climbing fuschia called Lady boothby. It's doing very well in partial shade, flowering at the moment. I have planted it with a clematis, both climbing a silver birch tree. water it well & feed it whilst in flowerI guess.Good luck.
nalini

I have got 6 climbing fuchsia bought this year they are on the patio growing up a fence they are all in flower and doing well. They look very impressive. I just feed them weekly.

I have had a few of these grown on as cuttings from the original plug plants from T&M.

They can be colourful at a height but they need training and tying back. if they are woody I leave the stems and hope over time they will get bigger.

But I agree the actual flower is pretty simple really. I have just downloaded a photo of one in a pot.

I bought one a month ago now and the flowers are taking a long time coming despite good soil position shade etc
Is this normal with fuschia ?

This yeart Lady Boothy very slow to grow it did over winter butnever bloomed last year or this year.

I think its afuchsia you either like or dont like and nwo Iam tending to dislike as ther so many beautiful fuchsias.

I just came on and googled climbing fuschia because I bought one last year and it was fantastic. Grew very tall and was abundent with beautiful flowers. However, despite all this lovely sunshine and warmth for the last month or so, it shows no signs of life, and I believe it died during the winter, so not hardy like my normal fuschia which is coming back with a vengeance. Nice while it lasted but too expensive for just one year. I will cut it down and plant something else.

Dont give up on it yet, Sparkles, mine are only just starting to sprout. They do have the advantage of growing up fences etc, (with a bit of support) in places where other types of fuchsias would not grow. As with most fuchsias, they prefer a bit of shade if the weather is very hot.

I bought 3 Lady Boothy last year, planted in a large pot and made a wigwam around them. They were slow to start, but then suddenly began to climb. Had to tie in a few, but not many of the stems and it is now flowering. It is filling out and looks gorgeous. I've had hardy fuchia's for ages, and the ones in my front garden have been in for over 30 years - and still come back year after year. I'll do the same with the climber as with all my fuchia's and cut them back. Like with all plants,you have to give them a go, but don't give up with them.

Hi. I've had lady boothby for two years now and it loves my west facing fence.It loves the afternoon sun. If you cut back the top 2/3 inches,right after the frosts, it will thicken up and produce more stems and flowers later that summer. By doing this the stalks near the base will 'wood up' and become more stronger and vigorous.It will become leggy and spindly if you dont cut back.Although no tendrils,it will intertwine through trellis etc,with a bit of help showing it where to go.

I bought five Lady Boothbys and they have all done well amongst climbing roses and clematis. What I would like to know is how much I prune them. So far I just took off the growing tip once they reached the top of the trellis. I was thinking of cutting back all the side shoots but not sure about the main one. Might it be better to see if the frosts/snow affect it and then cut back in Spring?