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Fuchsia tree survived NW winter, how to care for it

13 years ago

Hi all,

Last year I bought a pretty fuchsia tree, planted it in the ground,and enjoyed the flowers until the first week of December when it got very cold and died...

Or so I thought. Earlier this spring, I noticed only several dead branches coming ou of the ground, so I cut them all the way back. Then I assumed it was dead.

Until today when I noticed a familiar looking plant about 5 inches tall. There was a smaller one nearby.

The fuchia was alive after all!

I have fed and watered both fuchsias.The larger one I tied to a plant stake

Question: should I have left the branches above ground? Is that why it took so long to see plants again? (actually, until today, I thought the fuchsia tree was dead.)

Any thoughts about this? Thank you ahead of time!

Comments (3)

aftermidnight Zone7b B.C. Canada
13 years ago
When you say tree, do you mean a single trunk of some length with branches at the top or did your fuchsia look more like a shrub with several branches coming out of the ground?
There are quite a few varieties of fuchsia that are winter hardy in zone 8 if the rootball is planted deep enough. Although the top of the plant dies back in winter fresh growth comes up from the rootball in the spring.

If your plant was a 'tree' fuchsia it would have to have been given winter protection, somewhere it wouldn't freeze, given just enough water to keep the roots from drying out.

With fuchsias that are left in the ground over winter don't cut the dead looking branches off in the spring until you can see where new growth is coming from, then cut just above where you see new growth or to shape.

Whichever type you had it looks like the root survived the winter, the new growth appearing now will grow and flower.
adahlberg
13 years ago
Check out ccfuchsia.net there is a lot of great info there. There is also a northwest fuchsia society and people you may contact to help you with your fuchsia needs. You can also probably have access to thousands of varieties :)
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gesjenn
Original Author
13 years ago
Hi
Thank you for the info.
It is a shrub type, I guess. Not the trailing type.
The larger plant is very wilted, I hope it makes it. The smaller one seems fine.
I really like these kinds of fuchsias. They just keep on blooming!

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