fuschia

Looks the same as one of my Fuchsias but I do not know the name of it. You can cut it back or leave it be Fran when it stops blooming.

It was badly overgrown when I first saw it, dorjac, crowdding the quincie and the rose that was then behind it. It was cut back before I moved in, and cut back a lot more earlier this year, taken down to fewer stems, and it seems to be happy with that.

hard to believe I've been here almsot a year!

Doesn't time fly? Hate to disagree with Dorjac, but I was told many years ago by a prize Fuchsia grower that hardy Fuchsias are best left alone until new growth begins to show at the base in spring, then cut off all the old wood. A mulch of bark or compost is also a good idea. I've followed this advice for years and I've had some stunning results. The old wood helps to protect the new growth from frost apparently.

Fuschias are new to me, to grow myself, at least. When I moved in, the fuschia was crammed in front of the quinice and rose, and behind a stone sink, so I could hardly see anything of any of their bases. Now it's got more room, I can see further down and will be checking out "how-to"s. At least it seems to have forgiven any mishandling so far.

I've got sacks of bark chips to use as mulch; I usually don't mulch till after I've dug a bit of bed, partly to protect it and partly so I can see where I've been so I don't go over it again. Now that I can get at the roots (or nearly). I can bark the existing shrubs to help protect them.

I'd agree with Waddy, Fran, don't cut it back any more before spring. You could prune off the tops a few inches but you ought to leave the majority of them.

Hardy Fuchsias are such wonderful plants able to tolerate neglect for quite some time. They come back year after year looking better every year! You can cut them down to a couple of inches above ground once you notice them starting to make growth again. Don't worry if you don't see them early as they tend to break dormancy very late. If you scratch off a tiny bit of bark with a fingernail just above soil level & it's green underneath then the Fuchsia is still alive. If it is brown or grey then it's dead. Or at least that particular branch is! You could repeat the test on other stems just to make sure. But don't give up on it right away as it could still be alive further down, out of sight below the soil.

Hope to see more pictures of this Fuchsia next year! :-))

Won't touch it, or any other shrub, while it's flowering, or even with good foliage - while it's putting out leaves or flowers, it's fully alive and needs to be left alone. It was only cut back because the "tidy up" that was done before i moved in was really like trimming your fringe rather than cutting your hair properly - they were bare stems which I didn't see and kept tripping over htem, so the gardener cut them back for me.

now it's down to a manageable size, I'll keep it more or less the way it is; always wary of cutting back too far in case it don't come back!

I did not mean cut it right back in autumn really. However they can be left with a bit of a trim to neaten them up and again trimmed a little in spring. Then I get a good sized bush that blooms as mine have never bloomed before this last summer. When I have cut mine right back in dry old Essex they take ages to get back to a good sized show. I agree with you Fran that if you cut too low it may kill a good show. The only fuchsia of mine I cut right back is self planted checkerboard, growing out over the garden steps, jammed into a small space. I do it any old time I think suits best according to the weather.

The bare stems were over waist-high, and arching out as they did, I was contantly walking into them. How tall or short should the stems be cut back for best effect?

In the spring, if you want, low down as suggested by Waddy, when low shoots start to appear(fertilise after). In a mild winter, as last winter, they may bloom without interuption, as mine did. I just trimmed them to shape and not intrusive by about 8 inches. They were the best ever, after all the wet and not being cut right down. Normally they got scalped in spring Fran. However if the summer goes dry, as in Essex, they struggle to put on a decent display. The climate is the decider Fran. Maybe Shropshire is not as dry as Essex?

possibly not, Dorjac, it was pretty wet in the first months of the yaer. Thanks for the infro, I'll copy and paste to keep them safe.