Too early to plant fuschias?

[Curlybrunette]

Hey everyone,

I am a new gardener and am trying to put some colour in to my front garden. I like fuschias and upon reading about them have seen there are some hardy varieties. I would like to plant maybe 5 plants along one edge of the garden (it's about 15 m long) and assume they will eventually spread.

I had the plants in my trolley this morning (good old morrisons had the plants at £1 each!) but a lovely older chap stopped me and said it is far too early to plant them outside and I need to wait until June.

We spent a good few hours yesterday digging the border and a big bed, do I really have to wait 6 weeks before I can plant anything?

Thanks, all advice much appreciated

Unless they are a hardy variety they will die from frost. It depends where you are in the country, but frost could still be around until May.
You could risk planting them and covering them with mini cloches, made from 2L plastic bottles.

I think the ones that are in supermarkets for a pound this time of year are annual varieties (just last one summer)
From your post I'm guessing that's not what you are after? Did you want to fill up your border with them? If so you need the perennial version from a garden centre. They'll be fine to go in now.

I have the Morrisons £1 fuchsias too

Whereabouts are you? I'm in the SE and have put two in the ground already although they haven't done a whole lot yet. The rest I potted into bigger pots and tucked them in a sheltered, sunny spot on my SE facing patio until I figure out where I want them.

These are all hardy varieties. If you're in a cooler part of the country you could pot on and cloche as per pp suggestion?

Manx fuchsia will grow into hedges, even up mountains.

You could plant them out but you should cover them. I have old bed sheets I place over the top if I ever buy plants a little too early (usually new varieties that the garden centre sells out of quickly) . You can buy fleece that will keep the frost off which is more lightweight than cotton bed sheets to keep from squashing the plants but if your soil isn't warm then they could die off anyway.

I meant to say I'm no expert I cant even grow grass because of contaminated ground but in my experience of using pots/raised beds this may work for you.

Can you not keep them in pots, in a shed, garage, or spare room for a few weeks?

Yes, sheets, fleece, or net curtains will help to keep the worst of the cold off them.

To give you some encouragement, try this web site:

www.fuchsiaflower.co.uk/index.htm

Thanks so much everyone.
Yes I do want to fill up the border, so the Morrisons varieties aren't what I need. Darn it, so cheap!

I'll get to a garden centre then and ask for the right type.

Thanks a lot, I'm sure I'll be back with more questions very soon

Curly your Morrisons ones might be ok - I have hardy fuschias that I bought from Morrisons .Google the names and see what it says .

Curly I have Dollar Princess and two others (names escape me) described as hardy from Morrisons. I was under the impression they would survive?!

The other one is snowcap and there's a third deep pink one whose name has has rubbed off

Sorry for the dripfeed, the third one is called 'display'. The RHS agrees they're all hardy varieties so you ought to be okay

Thanks guys, I was too impatient so went to the garden centre and a lovely chap from there talked me through it all. £110 later eeeek I'm done.

I did get a lot of plants, not just a few fushias. I'm trying to make myself feel better here. Really I got loads of plants

Oh go on - tell us what you got !

Don't feel bad - that's just the equivalent of half a dozen bunches of flowers that would be dead after a week.

I got:
4 Bergaris - these should grow together eventually and can go up to 5' but I think we'll keep them about 3-4'
2 Hydrangeas one blue and one red
2 Honeysuckles - mine will have yellow flowers, these will climb up the front fence
A herb garden of mint, chives and parsley - I've bought one of these and it fits in a shady corner so needed shade tolerant herbs
1 big lavender plant (with flowers) plus a pack of 6 smaller lavenders. I really want bees so have also bought a 'bee hotel' from Amazon!

Oh and DS2 was being all wide eyed and sweet when he found a pot guinea pig that looked just like ours that died last year. That was £13 so I guess that means I spent less than £100 on plants. I feel a bit better now!

Have no idea why I wrote 'Bergaris' I totaly meant 'Berberis'!!!

Spending money on plants is in a special category .You get so much more for money spent on plants than anything else .

That sounds like a fantastic haul - they will fill up the space beautifully ! Sounds like an excellent selection .

It sounds a lovely collection curly. They'll look and smell lovely. Money spent on plants doesn't count because you're adding to the worlds enjoyment.
I stopped for coffee at a country tea shop, yesterday and came away with 3 plants from their pop up plant stall!

Hardy fuchsias will survive in your garden all year once they are established, yes. But don't think the you will have big colourful bushes all year - you won't!
Firstly, fuchsias loose their leaves in winter and the top growth dies back. They grow back from the bottom of the plant. Unless you live somewhere like the channel islands where there is no frost at all Frost will kill the new green growth on all fuchsias, including hardy fuchsias, if you plant them out now.
Leave it all couple of weeks, just pot them up.into bigger pots and keep them frost free.

We have just had 4 days with hard frost every morning and my established hardy fuchsias have had their new spring growth nipped right back, :(

Congratulations on becoming a new gardener My only suggestion is to find out what type of soil you have in your garden ie acid, alkali, clay, sandy, heavy, free-draining. Asking a gardening neighbour is the best option or Google 'what sort of soil do I have'.

Next week's frosts could be tough on young plants, I grow everything on under glass and am still using a little heater at night some days. It doesn't have to be a massively expensive greenhouse. I have got three of the halls jumbo cold frames with the smallest parasene heaters in them. They are full right now.

www.greenhousepeople.co.uk/categories/accessories/cold-frames/?ro=default

I bought one after we left our greenhouse behind and moved into a rented house for a while and thought it was fab. I never replaced my greenhouse when we moved again, I just added another two and a 6x2 walled greenhouse.

My fushias are all under glass. I don't usually plant out until the second week in May.