Looking for this great hummingbird attractor seed. Thanks Dave

Kath- I "think" Gonsolves means that this is the first fuchsia that can be grown all over the US and he didn't breed it- bred by the Suntory firm in Japan. I think PW is a subsidiary of Suntory in the US. Sorry hannah I don't think 'Papoose' or 'Winston Churchill' are part of the "Angels Earrings series"- and I think this is what is causing the confusion. The PW/Suntory company's marketing strategy seems to be a "series" of heat tolerant hybrid fuchsias - hence the name "Angels Earrings". The only cultivar names that I've found are: 'Cascading Angels Earrings', 'Dainty' and 'Snowfire'. The link of the PW website that Eclectic_Gardener gave above makes it even more confusing since they mix standard cultivars with the Angels Earrings "series". The three cultivars above seem to be the only real heat tolerant ones so far- hopefully there will be more in the future. As you can tell, PW likes to give their plants rather catchy names. Eclectic_Gardener: You might want to ask your favorite nursery if they can order them for you- if they carry other PW plants surely they can get the fuchsias too. I'm looking for 'Snowfire' myself.-- Frank

My Gartenmeister is in its third summer of re-bloom. I bought in summer of 2002. It is in a large black "nursery pot" which is inside a thick wooden pot that I think started life as an ice bucket pot. The wood is thick. I cut it back to about 4 to 6 inches, and shelter it on my deck close to the house. Winters in my Oregon coastal city are fairly mild, but the February winds are terrible. Then my potted fuchsias get more shelter, even taking them into the garage for a week or two. In April I evaluate and cut back again on all my fuchsias, to where I see nice green growth. Then I start the fertilizer process. Every week. I use a 20 20 20 formula until July, then go to a Blossom Boost formula every 2 weeks. A good one for shady in - ground - growth is Swingtime. This year she's 3 ft high and as wide. A nice companion for hanging basket fuchsias is Vinca Major. Comes back every year and makes nice large blue flowers while the fuchsias are in their "stick" stage. And a pretty vine to complement either upright or hanging fuchsias.

Well-yes, we are in zone 5/6-and these (whichever the Dutch Gardens calls 'Hardy Fuchsias') are supposed to be hardy in zone 5. They are quite bushy and about 1 foot tall and in the ground--no pests-and quite a few tiny tiny (about 1/4 inch) buds on them. Thanks for asking about the fertilizer, I've been fertiliazing maybe once per month with the 'Algoflash' soluble fertilizer--should do more??? Oh yes--they are upright-not pendulous. The plants look very healthy, although small. They don't get much sun per day--maybe 2 hours dappled sun each day. I don't know if they get direct sun or not (I work 7:30 a m till 3:30 pm and by then the sun is behind the neighbor's house) I guess I've got many other REAL problems. It is just that I've lived in this area for 20 years and have NEVER seen any fuschias in ANYONE's gardens-and I've seen a lot of gardens in this area. So, I'm treading unknown ground.