By Missgarden
Ireland
Do you think standard fuschias could come back to life after the heavy snow in Dec 2010 ?
- 24 Mar, 2011
Answers
It will depend on what variety of fuchsia the standard was trained from. Do you know its name Missgarden?
I believe that most bought standard fuchsias are trained from tender varieties. If this is the case with yours it will be dead. If it was grown from a hardy variety, there is a possibility that it might resprout from near the top of the stem, but it is more likely that it would regrow from the bottom, with a mass of new shoots. These would make a great "bushy" bush, but will be crowded together and not going straight up so not really retrainable as a standard plant.
IF you find it is starting to grow again, and IF it is not showing signs of growth at the top of the stem, it would be easier to take some cuttings of the new growth, root them and train your own standard fuchsia - at least you'd have a straight main stem to start off with.
Growing your own would take about 2 years, see
http://www.fuchsialand.co.uk/standard.htm
24 Mar, 2011
Snap, sort-of, Bamboo
24 Mar, 2011
My fuchsias have also died off. So has my honeysuckle. Probably due to the very cold weather we have had. I am hoping they will all regrow.
26 Mar, 2011
On the subject of fuchsias, it's too early for them really, yet - it'll be interesting to see if even the hardy, species varieties (I have one here, 5 feet high) only grow from the base rather than old stems this year.
26 Mar, 2011
I have 'Hawkshead' and a red leaved magellanica which are both producing leaves on the stems. The rest are showing new growth at the base only. But all that new growth is most welcome! :-)
26 Mar, 2011
One of my fuschias now has green shoots growing on the dead stems. Do I cut out the dead stems above the new shoots? the other fuschia hasn't started coming to life yet.
28 Mar, 2011
I usually trim the old stems back a bit Casso, just to keep the bush within bounds. I don't think it matters whether you do or you don't. It will become clearer over time which bits are dead and which alive. Give the other one time - sometimes they look dead til June if the winter's been really cold.
28 Mar, 2011
Thank you Beattie. It looks a bit odd with the dead stems and the green shoots. I'll keep a check on it.
28 Mar, 2011
The advice with fuchsias is to cut them to the ground because you get better growth, but that really only applies to the smaller hybrids and not magellenica or any of the species ones. I'd cut back to strong new growth in a week or two's time if it was mine, Casso.
28 Mar, 2011
Rather depends on the variety of fuchsia - if its a hardy one and it was in the ground, its possible - but it will probably grow from the base, so you won't have a standard any more. If it was a tender one, it'll be dead. Standard fuchsias should be brought into a greenhouse or indoors over winter, whether they're hardy or not.
24 Mar, 2011