Fuchsia 'Riccartonii'

About this cultivar:

Fuchsia 'Riccartonii' is by far the most popular Fuchsia in the UK. It and it offspring are the plant you see growing wild on roadsides. It was raised in 1830 by a Mr Young, the head gardener at Riccarton in Scotland and was early on noted for its hardiness.  It is widely used as a hedging plant in Britain and overseas and has become a problem plant in Australia and Hawaii . Its blood-red sepals and deep purple or blue-violet petals, in the form of a petticoat, make this plant one of the best known summer shrubs. It has the Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit (RHS AGM).

• Position: Full sun, partial shade
• Soil: Almost any soil
• Flowers: July, August, September, October
• Other features: Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit (RHS AGM), Bees and Butterflies
• Hardiness: H6 - Hardy in all of UK and northern Europe (-20 to -15°C)
• Habit: Clump forming, bushy
• Foliage: Deciduous
• Height: 150 - 240 cm (5 - 8 ft)
• Spread: 105 - 150 cm (3.5 - 1.5 ft)
• Time to full growth: 2 to 5 years
• Plant type: Herbaceous Perennial, shrub
• Colour: Green, red, purple
• Goes well with: Everything!

About this genus:

Fuchsia (few-che-a) is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. There are over 110 recognized species. The first, Fuchsia triphylla, was discovered on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola (present day Dominican Republic and Haiti) about 1696 by the French monk and botanist, Charles Plumier during his third expedition to the Greater Antilles. He named the new genus after the renowned German botanist Leonhart Fuchs.

The Fuchsias we grow and sell are perennial and hardy - they are all growing away in our own garden. They are easy to grow once they are established - they will take almost any situation or soil that isn't too extreme. They provide continual flowers from July until late autumn, when the first frosts arrive. They come into their own in autumn because they enjoy cooler temperatures and shorter days. The Autumn light also enhances the rich mixture of pinks, reds, peaches and whites in the garden. Eventually most will die back for the winter - usually when a hard frost kills the upper part of the plant, however they will start growing from the base again when the next spring comes!

Fuchsias are versatile plants - although not native they have naturalized in many parts of this world, for instance along the beautiful Antrim Coast. They can often been seen growing wild. It is for this reason that I like them poking in and around hedges for a natural look. However the common use is as stand alone specimen plant - it is really up to you!