If my fuschias haven't sprouted by now..

[PearPartridge]

Are they dead?

Ooh don't know but my fushias haven't either and I keep eyeing them suspiciously!

@PearPartridge @SenseiOfDuty when they do open their leaves, watch out for some parts looking fleshy that don' unfurl. If you get that you will have to remove the plants and destroy them. It's called fuschia gall mite. Check it out.

I reckon they'll be fine. Mine always take ages to show signs of life and I'm not worried yet

I’m thinking the extreme frosts this winter have killed mine. None are showing any sign of life 😞

Mine haven’t done anything yet but last year I chopped one of the back to the stump cos it had something properly wrong with it and it came back massively so I think they are indestructible and it’s just not been warm enough yet. I used to work outside and in previous years I’d be wearing suncream by now and this year I’ve barely gone outside without a coat so I think it’s just been too cold!

It's still early for them, give it a few weeks

Mine has been looking suspiciously dead too.

Thanks. Everything else is sprouting but they look dead as a doornail still. It sounds like it's normal for them to sprout late though so I'll leave them.

It’s often extreme wet that kills fuchsias in the winter. They sort of drown, so that’s a possibility. What are they looking like?

If you read the thread about peonies... so many of us had them sprouting up late this year. Your fuchsias might be a little behind.

I think it’s too early to tell - let’s hold our nerve
However, this winter I lost six hebes !

I have long established fuschia bushes, just done the last prune by a third. A few green shoots but still mainly bare wood. NW England plenty of time yet and mine normally flower through to late October. Saw bedding and basket plants in lidl last week but Saturday morning was still only 3 degrees. Buckets of rain Friday. Late spring here, tulips not quiet put yet.

Dead twigs

They were newly planted last summer

Useful to know about fuchsia gall mite. If mine doesn’t come up I’ll pull it out as I’ve planted strawberries near

Mine are looking very twiggy. Last year I thought the same and pulled up one, its neighbour didn’t get pulled for some reason and I felt terrible when it sprouted and was covered in flowers within a week or two. My poor shrub, mulched for no reason!
Keep the faith. They will return

Same here with the fuchsias, fingers crossed but really not looking very healthy!

My grandpa always said ‘cast not a clout fore May is out’. I struggle to get to the end of April but do always think of his phrase.

Mine always look dead this time of year. I'll be sad if they haven't survived the winter.

Mine are looking pretty dead too and they have brightened up my garden every year for the last 16 years. I'm convinced it's always April they come alive. Fingers crossed they are just late this year.

I hate to be that guy but it’s ‘before the may is out’, referring to the flowers on the may bush.

Oh no!!!!! That’s decades and decades of our family getting it wrong 🤣

Do you mean “dead twigs” or “twigs without any hint of green growth” - there is a difference! Try snipping back one of the twigs. If it’s dead it’ll be brown all through, slightly shrivelled. A live twig will be plumper, and creamy colour inside, with a layer of green that you may be able to see.

Even if the twigs are dead right back to ground level, Fuchsia will grow back from the roots. Don’t even begin to worry before June

But of course the reason that the May bush is so called is that it flowers in May.

General reminder: Fuchsia was named after Herr Fuchs (Mr Fox). So it’s Fuchsia (not Fuschia, Fushia or any other variety)