Hi Kar, It will do both, sprouting from below the soil and old wood. This happens (according to weather conditions)around April/May. To encourage strong growth through the summer months, cut back the old wood when you see new growth appearing at soil level - Kath:)

The whole plant is gone? Probably the 2-legged kind then. Around here, some folks have problems with deer eating ornamentals and landscaping plants. They always went for the new growth on our roses.

Hello all, I wish I could go to the swap but weekends are usually the only time DH has any free time at all. I've been trying to find a few gardeners around the bayshore but so far having better luck converting some of the neighbors to my way of "lawn care". I really want to work on the guy across the street who has a service come by to maintain the turf. I did find some triphylla type Fuchsias and some hardy begonias at the Union Square green market. Not really a local source but we can call it regional. For anyone else looking for these plants, I did find F. magellanica at Dearborn Farms in Holmdel but it was pricey. No dice at Brocks in Colt's Neck where it has been backordered for weeks. Didn't see it at Cicconi's when I went. None at all Sickles in Little Silver but they did have a selection of begonias- angel wing, cane, rex... I want to find some of the other supposedly hardy begonias coming out of China. Sheila

Glenn, I'd wait a few weeks :-) Hardy fuchsias are notoriously late to bud out and given our spring seems to be cooler than normal so far, I'd be surprised to see much growth this early. If you prune too soon you may be cutting off viable growth that shows no signs of life now. OTOH, substantial winter dieback is common with many varieties - in many cases these should be treated as pretty much herbaceous perennials and it seldom hurts the plants to cut back almost to ground level. You just won't achieve much size if you do this unnecessarily. As to pruning technique, it depends on the type. On ones that experience a lot of dieback, I do cut back to a couple of inches. Otherwise, I wait until budding is consistant along the stems, then remove any deadwood and any puny little branching, attempting to retain anything that is pencil thickness or larger. On the larger magellanicas, you'll wind up removing a lot of very thin, whippy growth that just doesn't produce or that will be dead wood.