Gary, It sounds more like you have a "regular" fuchsia, which doesn't like sun or heat, really. They only last a couple of months for me. The Gartenmeister variety has a different shaped flower...with a "star" on the end of the tubular part, instead of a "ballerina skirt," and it is designed for heat and sun. Of course, in Zone 10, it still might not make it. I've never seen Gartenmeister in any color but orange-red, though that doesn't mean it isn't available in other colors. Just never saw it being sold here in purple or pink, etc. If you DO have a purple Gartenmeister, I'd love to see a picture. And I'm gonna want one, too! Mine will last about nine months or so before getting a bit straggly, straight through the summer and well into fall. And I'm pretty sure I can cut it back and rejuvenate it for the following year, but I've been too lazy to mess with it. This year, I'm going to try. I read on Dave's Garden where some people kept it going for years and years. Worth a shot! Marcia

I can tell my gartenmeister has a nice rootball because it is very firmly entrenched in the potting mix and doesn't move a millimeter in high wind. This plant hasn't gotten much hummer use, but late in the season, once it cooled off, it exploded with blooms and looks great. I have limited space inside so I wasn't planning to overwinter it, but I also doubt I'll be able to find it locally again next year.

There's a great deal of variability with the hardiness of 'hardy' fuchsias but I've found most to be fully root hardy once established. But that pertains to inground planting situations - containerized hardy fuchsias will be vulnerable to the same extremes of cold as any other containerized tree or shrub and depending on the specific selection and the size of the container and its location, they may very well have experienced root damage due to cold. Hardy fuchsias are quite late to leaf out. Often one doesn't see any signs of life until well into April or May. I'd recommend not doing anything major in the way of pruning or repotting until that time. As for treating as herbaceous perennials, I'd consider them more in the category of caryopteris, perovskia or romneya or other woody based deciduous subshrubs/perennials. Wait until you see new growth emerging, then remove any obviously dead wood and trim back to a permanent woody framework. The ultimate size of this framework will depend on specific variety.

I usually cut mine back around mid November.I take the fuschia out of the pot and remove as much soil as possible, cut the plant back to at most 6 inches. Then I put the roots into a small pot with soil and tuck it in a corner of my green house, I think the shed could be okay cause you can put them into very small pots., they then wouldn't take up much space.If you put them under the deck, maybe you should cover them with some mulch of some sort . I've heard of the burying idea also.I've been saving my fuschias for several years, every year they just look better, Cindy