The Mystery Challenge

We had a great response to the Mystery Challenge at the meeting yesterday! There were many plants on show, some of which were really superb! Well done to everybody who participated and special congratulations to Felicity whose plant was voted "Best on Show", and Doug who won the "Best Novice" award.

Show fever is running high now - just 4 weeks to go!! Most members who are intending to show are starting to panic quietly! We have had good weather this year, and the plants have responded well, some of them a little too well! For those plants that look as if they will peak before show week, I suggest that you feed as aggressively as possible to keep them growing strongly and keep the new buds coming. - There is no way to retard bud development when once it has begun so rather try to spur it on to even greater levels!

It is worth making a note of which cultivars have come into bloom early as you can time their flowering more accurately next year! Also note those that don't bloom in time for the show for the same reason!!

I'm looking forward to seeing many beautiful plants on show!!

Count Down to the Show!

My apologies once more - I am still not well and have been taking things very easy! I must say that I am delighted with the way the plants are growing - even though they have not had all the attention they might have liked. Long may it continue!

The show is looming as a reality in our lives now so I thought you might like to see my pinching schedule for the rest of the year. This only applies to mature plants that may be suitable for showing in December. The young plants continue to be pinched as needed until they are good big round plants, at which point they can be left to flower.

Pinching Schedule

22 August - 104 days to the show
Penultimate pinch large doubles

29 August - 97 days to the show
Last pinch for Triphylla types

5 September - 90 days to the show
Penultimate pinch for semi-doubles and small doubles

12 September - 83 days to show
Last pinch for large doubles

19 September - 76 days to the show
Penultimate pinch for large singles

26 September - 69 days to the show
Last pinch for Semi-doubles and small doubles
Penultimate pinch for medium and small singles

10 October - 55 days to the show
Last pinch for large singles

17 October - 48 days to the show
Last pinch for medium and small singles

This is only meant as a guide and weather conditions must be taken into account! If it stays very wet and cold late into the season you might need to leave longer for the plants to come into full flower after the last pinching. We will only be able to judge this as time moves on!

Good luck and I hope to see many plants on the show this year!!

Blog baby at 18 weeks

08 Blog baby 18 weeks, originally uploaded by pennyeast.

The dry sunny days that we have had have really helped the young plants to get going.

I have been feeding each week with a half strength solution of seagrow, and turning each plant 90 degrees each week. When the plants are so small I pinch as soon as I see anything ready - shaping and finally pinching all the tips at the same time will come much later. I also pinch out when the tip is only just available as I don't see any point in allowing the plant to use up energy to make stems and leaves that I am only going to remove!

The young plant at 18 weeks old has been pinched a couple of times and is filling out nicely. The root system is also growing well, and when I squeezed the pot a little and looked down the side I could see roots at the edge of the soil. This means that it is ready to plant up into a 15cm pot. I will do this during the week.

Catching up!

07 blog baby 10 weeks, originally uploaded by pennyeast.

I do apologise for having neglected this blog for 8 weeks!! Life ran away with me for a while! I will try to catch up and fill the gaps during this week, and then get back to the routine of posting progress once or twice a week. Many thanks to the many people who have sent messages of concern - your kindness and good wishes are appreciated.

This picture was taken on the 7th of June and never posted! It shows the young "blog baby" at 10 weeks old. I'm posting it now just to keep chronological order in the pictures, and will post a current entry tomorrow.

This little plant is now 10 weeks old and ready for its second pinching. Notice the new growth that has developed as a result of the first pinching. The number of side shoots and growth tips is multiplying and will result in a full round plant that can bear many flowers.

Not Much to Report

The Blog Baby is 8 weeks old. Tiny new shoots are developing in the leaf axils and all is looking good. No photograph today I'm afraid - I was determined to finish my pruning today as I have a very busy week ahead preparing for my son's 21st birthday party on Saturday. I'm pleased to report that I made it - just before the rain started!! Just a few bushes in the front garden to go but they are not that important as far as timing goes!

I also managed to get all the young plants in the kindergarten turned today. Some of them were ready for their first pinching which is exciting. The soil is still very wet so they haven't been fed yet - and now it's raining again!! I do hope that there is an opportunity soon. There is enough good stuff in the soil for a few weeks, but they do so much better if they get Seagrow regularly!

I probably won't be very active on here for this week, but I will be sure to catch up when all the excitement is over.

Turn about

The little Blog Baby is seven weeks old. The two lateral buds below where it was pinched out last week are showing signs of growth, and the plant is looking very green and healthy It has weathered the storms this weekend very well, but the soil is very wet indeed so I won't be able to feed it until it is ready for watering again. I did turn it today though - along with all the other newly rooted cuttings that I transplanted during the week. Regular turning is important in keeping the plant growing evenly and straight. Plants will always grow towards the light, and the side away from the light will not be as full or well grown as that facing the best light. Turning the pots once a week in the same direction will ensure that the plant gets good light all round.

Because this job is getting bigger by the day I try to work to a system for turning the plants. When I move them to the kindergarten I place them on the shelves with all the labels at the back, then after the first week, when they have all been turned 90 degrees clockwise for the first time, all the labels land up on the right hand side of the pots, after the next turn the labels are in the front of the pots and soon. This way I can be sure that I have turned them all, and am able to see how far I got if I am disturbed while doing it. Works for me!

Extreme Cuttings

T5 Extreme Cuttings, originally uploaded by pennyeast.

The 5th and final post in the series on cuttings. Scroll down for previous entries.

There are times when cutting material is in very short supply! At those times it is possible to divide a normal tip cutting (1 and 2) into four parts - all of which have a very good chance of taking!

Figures 3 and 4 show the cutting divided into three and then four pieces, all of which are almost certain to root well and grow strongly. For these really tiny cuttings I only use vermiculite as the rooting medium as I am sure that it is clean and sterile. I always feel that these extreme cuttings are more vulnerable to botrytis and other fungal infections as the leaf tissue is in contact with the medium, and so constantly damp. Passing them through a weak fungicide solution before planting in sterile vermiculite gives them the best chance of survival in my shade house.

At this time of year they will root in three to four weeks and be ready for potting up a week after that.

STORM WARNING

There is a severe storm warning in place for the Western Cape for the whole weekend and Monday. If possible, try to protect your cuttings and very young plants from the high winds and very heavy rain expected. The little pots can be blown around, and the tiny plants and/or cuttings washed away in these conditions thus setting you back a long way.

Check the stakes and supports on any standards, and prune them back if you haven't done so already to reduce wind resistance. It is heartbreaking to have the head snapped off a a good standard in high wind!

Bring hanging baskets down to ground level and tuck them into a safe corner for a few days.

Batten down the hatches and sit tight!!

A last Resort

T4 Hard Wood Cuttings, originally uploaded by pennyeast.

Number 4 in the series on different types of cuttings. Scroll down for the earlier posts.

If you are really desperate to find cuttings of a particular cultivar and there is no new growth available, a piece of last year's growth, or "hard wood", can be pressed into service.

Try to cut it so that there is a node to bury in the rooting medium on each piece. In old wood the growth hormones needed for the development of new roots and shoots will be concentrated around the leaf nodes, so I try to have one in the rooting medium from which the new roots can grow, and one above ground to generate the new shoots.

If this is not possible, as in c on picture 3, then the use of a number 2 growth hormone powder might help. Just dip the end of the cutting into the powder, shake off any excess, and place in the rooting medium as usual. This is the only time I would recommend the use of hormone powder on fuchsias. All the other types of cuttings are rich enough in natural growth hormones to root easily and quickly, and sometimes produce distorted plants when the artificial hormones are added

Hard wood cuttings will do best in cooler weather (13 - 21 degrees C) . They will take quite a lot longer to root (up to 6 - 8 weeks) than the soft new wood that is rich in nutrients and hormones, and the success rate will not be as high, but if there is nothing else available they are worth a try! They might only yield some new growth that can be used to make softwood cuttings for easy rooting of good new plants.

For me, they are the last resort!

The First Pinch

The First Pinch, originally uploaded by pennyeast.

Our "Blog Baby" is now 6 weeks old, well settled into its soil, and growing well - a little too well if the truth be told!

It is quite tall and threatening to become a bit lanky. If it is left to its own devices it will just continue doing this and land up as a most unattractive plant with a few flowers right in the tip.

So, it must be "pinched" or "stopped" so that it will stop its headlong upward rush and start to make side branches. The growth hormones in the tip are sending messages to the buds in the leaf nodes down the stem to stop them from developing. We are going to remove the tip which will release the lower buds from bondage and allow them to develop.

1. This young plant is well settled and growing strongly. It is quite tall and in danger of developing into a lanky teenager.

2.It needs to be pinched out to force the development of side shoots. I'm going to cut quite a lot off it as it has grown quite tall and I prefer to leave only 2 or 3 nodes after the first pinching. Remember that you are aiming to produce a "fat, round" plant with lots of branches. We don't need the height at this stage. This cultivar, 'La Campanella' is a trailing variety so we want lots of side branches to fill a basket.

3. The deed is done! It look quite drastic, I know, but It is better to be a little daring now in order to keep the plant compact and bushy.

4. The piece that was removed will make a perfect cutting for rooting. I admit that I don't usually leave a young plant to get this big before I pinch it, but I'm trying to keep things in order of performance for clarity here!!

5. This is to show the plant as it is now - 'La Campanella' is a cultivar that branches readily on her own, so a couple of the lower nodes have already started to develop without our pinching them. Not all cultivars will do this!

We are on our way to a good bushy plant that will make a beautiful basket!

Remember to turn the plant 90 degrees each week, and feed it with a weak (25%) solution of Seagrow each time it needs to be watered.

"Pinching is an act of kindness!!" :)

More info on each picture can be found HERE

Semi Ripe Cuttings

T3 Semi Ripe Cuttings, originally uploaded by pennyeast.

Part three in the series about cuttings. Scroll down for the previous two.

Fuchsias are such obliging plants, that almost any little bit of material will root and grow into a new plant. There are times when you have to make the best of what is available. This case usually arises for me when I am wandering around somebody else's garden towards the end of the flowering season and am particularly taken with a cultivar I would like to propagate. Not all plants make new growth in the autumn, so then I resort to semi hardwood - that is wood that is about a year old but is still growing and looking strong and healthy. It is best if you can find a small piece with a couple of new side shoots developing.

Here I took the two new side shoots off carefully (2) and divided the piece of stem so that it yielded two nodal cuttings (5).

The nodes will develop roots fairly easily and I prefer that to inter nodal cuttings on semi ripe wood.

The one side shoot is very small (on the left in picture 3), but if treated as an extreme tip cutting it should take - its worth a try anyway! The other one should root easily and grow into a good plant.

Each of these four cuttings (4) stands a good chance of rooting, although the resulting plants from the pieces of stem may not be of show quality. They will however yield new tip cutting material from which to start well balanced plants!

Making the most of what you have!

T2 Soft Wood Cuttings, originally uploaded by pennyeast.

Part Two in the series about different types of Fuchsia cuttings. Scroll down for Part One.

There are times when cutting material is in short supply, or you need to propagate a large number of plants for a specific purpose. Here is one way to stretch the material you have. (More on this topic will follow later!)

If you can only get one cutting of a cultivar you really want to propagate you can divide that up to provide a few young plants - also means you don't have all your eggs in one basket! At least one is likely to thrive!

Here cutting number 1 has been divided into 3 pieces.

a is an extreme tip cutting which, if planted so that the rooting medium comes half way up the lower leaves, will root easily and produce a good plant.

b is a nodal cutting. The node buried in rooting medium up to the level of the lower leaves will rapidly develop roots, and two shoots will develop from the node above ground. This might not develop a well balanced plant for show purposes, but the new shoots can be used to take good tip cuttings.

c is an inter nodal cutting. Because it is soft young wood it should root fairly easily and also produce two shoots from the node above ground. Plant this to the level of the node.

Cutting number 2 can yield 5 cuttings although all of them are inter nodal - always second prize in my book! This is worth doing for something really special if you are not sure that you can get more cuttings if this one fails!

a is an extreme tip cutting and should produce a well balanced plant, the others will all produce two shoots and will be good for multi planting, (3 - 5 plants in a pot or basket) and for providing more tip cuttings!

Top of the Pops

T1 Types of Cuttings - Tip, originally uploaded by pennyeast.

Quite a few people asked questions about the various types of cuttings that can can be taken when they were here on Friday. I will try to expand on these over the next few days.

Remember the basics: Take cuttings from strong healthy plants, and take them when the plants are fresh and turgid. Watering the plants well the day before is a good idea! Try to take cuttings in cool conditions and keep them moist and cool to prevent wilting before you can place them into damp rooting medium. If you can't plant them up immediately they will keep in the crisper tray of the 'fridge for a few days. Immerse them in luke-warm water for a while before planting to make sure that they are 100% turgid.

Tip Cuttings

These are the two best types of cuttings in my opinion.

Number 1, a nodal tip cutting, is by far the best cutting to take if the material is plentiful. It is planted up to the level of the lowest set of leaves and is just about guaranteed to strike. Natural growth hormones are concentrated around the nodes and will quickly make roots in a moist, loose medium.

Number two, called an inter nodal cutting because it is cut between two leaf nodes, is almost as good. It is young wood that is growing strongly and so is well supplied with growth hormones. Most cuttings of this type will strike easily in the right conditions. (temps of 13 - 23 degrees C). Plant it to just below the lower leaf node.

Moving up!

The Blog Baby is now 5 weeks old and has been uncovered and exposed to the elements for a week, and should be strong enough to take the shock of potting up. I'm always keen to pot up as soon as possible because the rooting medium contains no nutrients, and the little cutting must have nearly depleted its store of food by now as it has been making roots and growing quite strongly. That mustn't be allowed to slow down now!


This is the Blog Baby cutting comfortably settled into her new pot and ready to go into the shade house.


Steps for potting up:

First, fill a small (7.5 cm or 3 inch) square pot with moist, loose soil mix.

2. Make a hollow in the middle big enough to receive the root ball of the rooted cutting.

3. Dig a small trowel down into the rooting pot and lift the cutting out disturbing the roots as little as possible in the process.

4. Gently lower the cutting into the hollow you made, making sure that it does not go in deeper than it was in the rooting mix.

5. Gently level the soil out in the pot to cover the roots. Don't be tempted to press or firm it down.

6. Water gently with a slow stream from a small can to settle the soil around the roots.

These steps are documented in pictures HERE if you would like to see more. Pictures no 19 - 25 detail the potting up process.

Economy tip:

I save up the vermiculite left over from each rooting pot until I have enough to fill an old roasting tray. This is then spread out in the tray and put into the oven at 200 C for 2 hours. When it has cooled it is dry and sterile and can be used again for rooting more cuttings, or for adding to the next batch of soil that is made up.

Happy potting!!

Wild Weather

The first real cold front of the season came through last night, bringing with it cool temperatures, some quite heavy rain, and strong gusts of wind. Winter is on the way!

The majority of my cuttings are safe and snug and warm in the propagator and were unaffected by the weather,


but the three little "Blog babies" in their small individual pots and plastic bags stand on a fairly exposed shelf, and as I was afraid that they might be blown around, I brought them in to the kitchen window sill until the wind drops. This probably wasn't necessary, but I thought it was better to be safe than sorry as I would hate anything to happen to them now!

I do hope that the rain clears by Friday, otherwise we will have a fairly miserable morning of cutting taking!! The real enthusiasts will not be put off by this, of course!!

Raising Standards

I wasn't going to grow any new standards this year as they do take up a lot of room, but when I spotted these two gorgeous cuttings this morning I couldn't resist them!


'Phyllis', on the left, is a perfect cutting for growing a standard. It is straight and well balanced and has three leaves at each node. This means that she will make three new branches at each level on the main stem - 50% more branches than a normal cutting with only two leave to the node, and 50% more branches means 50% more flowers on the final plant!

'Mrs Popple', on the right, is a real find!! This shoot has four leaves at each node, which doesn't happen very often. There are tiny buds right at the tip of this cutting, which is not ideal, but nobody is perfect! They are so small right now that I am afraid I will damage the growth point if I try to nip them out, so I will leave them for a little while, and remove them when I can get in there comfortably.

The procedure for taking and rooting cuttings to start new fuchsia standards is the same as for any other fuchsia plant, but I have documented the process in pictures HERE if you would like to know more.

I will track the progress of these two cuttings weekly here until they are mature and flowering.

Hope you had a good long weekend, and are looking forward to the next one! :))

Cutting - 4 weeks old

Cutting - 4 weeks old, originally uploaded by pennyeast.

The Blog Baby cutting is now 4 weeks old and all can be revealed!

I took the plastic cover off this morning and was delighted to see that there is new growth. This, and the fact that the little cutting resisted a gentle tug are proof that the cutting has rooted and is now a viable young plant!

This means that I can leave the cover off now, and return it to where it was for a week so that it can acclimatise and toughen up a little before I pot it up.

I will have to check the moisture content daily now and water if necessary as it is open to the elements and will dry out quite fast in its tiny pot.

Fuchsia 'Tasman Sea'

Fuchsia 'Tasman Sea', originally uploaded by pennyeast - trying to catch up!.

This is another new addition that I am particularly pleased with. I just love the way the gentle purples and mauves blend into each other in the petals. Also happy that the colours don't change much as the bloom matures. This is usually a factor in the purple range of colours - they often go quite pink as they mature - but this one keeps the lovely clear mauve tints all the way to the end.

The sepals are also a very crisp white on top, and have lovely crêpey texture on the underside, lightly tinted with mauve. They are good and full and a very pleasing shape - also quite large, which appeals to me!

At first glance, she looks very similar to 'Naughty Nicole', but she is quite different in many ways, and I think, will have a permanent place in thecollection.

Cutting - 3 weeks old

Well, the little cutting, which I have now named the "Blog Baby" has been in the rooting medium for three weeks, and we are half way to the next stage! It is still looking green and healthy and all systems are set to "GO". In the next two or three weeks it should have developed sufficient root to be planted up into our growing medium, so it's about time to make sure that all the required ingredients are to hand.

It will need a small pot - I use the 7cm square pots because I can pack plenty into the available space, but anything up to about 10cm will do.

Then, something to fill the pot with! There are probably as many recipes for soil mixes as there are fuchsia growers, but this is what I do!

Mix:
1 part potting soil
2 parts compost (not mushroom!)
.5 part well rotted kraal manure
.5 part vermiculite (light weight) or river sand (heavier)
A handful of bone meal
Superphosphate as per manufacturer's instruction

Mix all together well and store in a water tight container for a couple of weeks before use.

I've used this basic mix for years and had very good results with it!

While I'm out shopping for supplies I will also make sure to get in a stock of Seagrow, which is the only food I give to my babies for the first couple of weeks after potting up.

The weather today is cool and damp - perfect fuchsia slipping conditions! - so I'm heading out there to take take plenty of cuttings!

Have a great Sunday whatever you are going to be doing!

Hawkmoth

Hawkmoth, originally uploaded by pennyeast - still MIA - sorry!!.

I have been a bit annoyed over the past few days to still be finding young hawkmoth caterpillars on my fuchsias as I would have expected them to be gone by now. Imagine my reaction to finding a hawkmoth in its prime ready to lay eggs all over the place!!I'm having difficulty identifying this one - it doesn't look like the usual Vine Hawkmoths that are so common around here, and I can't find it in the books. Hopefully somebody can help?

I was not amused to find evidence of recent activity when I looked more closely. Here is an egg - presumably laid by this moth - on the sepal of 'Purple Heart'. - An unusual find as these eggs are usually laid on the underside of leaves for protection and to provide the minute monsters with their first meal!

Smokey Mountain

This is a very young plant and these are the first flowers. I really am very pleased with it. It has grown strongly and promises to make a good full basket quite quickly. It has also proven to be quite pest and disease resistant so far having escaped the ravages of the Red Spider Mite epidemic earlier in the season, and has been untroubled by caterpillars, white fly aphids etc.!

The flowers are quite small, but that might be because the plant is young, or because it is the end of the season, or both!! They are very full and double, and a lovely shape, and the colours are soft and gentle without being insipid! This was a good addition to the collection I think!

The young cuttings appear to have survived yesterday's intense heat, and are all looking fine. I am noticing that the seedling mix is drying out more rapidly that the vermiculite mix in the cuttings that are open. Will keep an eye on this!

Cutting - 2 Weeks Old

There isn't much to report about the cutting today, which is good news in itself! It is looking crisp and fresh, and there is sufficient moisture in the system, so I have left well alone. I did turn it 90 degrees clockwise to ensure that it will get even light. I will try to remember to do this every week!

There is generally not much to do in the shade house at present other than dead heading and removing berries ( and weeds - Where do they come from???). All feeding has stopped now until after pruning, and there don't appear to be any insects or diseases around so there is no need to spray. I have reduced watering to every three days as the pots are not drying out too quickly any more.

The new growth is appearing all over the place and there should be plenty of planting material at the end of the month. I am delighted to see that a couple of plants that I had almost written off are recovering in the gentler temperatures and cool dewy nights. I will wait a couple of weeks before I discard anything that looks dead right now - You just never know what can happen!!

Oddities

Fuchsia 'Dollar Princess' - petaloid-4 copy, originally uploaded by pennyeast - MIA for a few days.

The summer heat, and end of season fatigue, seems to cause many aberrations in fuchsia blooms. Here 'Dollar Princess' has developed a stray petaloid on the end of a stamen. This is one of the most common "oddities" to arise - others include fasciation (that is when blooms are fused together and look like Siamese twins), faded or very pale colours, too few or too many flower parts, and of course, very small blooms. I find it fascinating and love searching for the odd flowers secure in the knowledge that after pruning and their winter rest they will all come back to normal!

New cuttings

13 New cuttings 4-4-09, originally uploaded by pennyeast - MIA for a few days.

The weather seems to have cooled down at last, and most of my plants are showing signs of new growth. Autumn is a good time to strike cuttings, which will then grow steadily through the winter and be quite a good size by the time the older plants have recovered from pruning. I am putting lots of cuttings in this year, as many of my plants are old and past their best. When I am sure that the replacements are growing strongly many of the older ones will have to take their chances in the open garden, or be ditched!

Cutting 1 week old

Cutting 1 week old, originally uploaded by pennyeast - MIA for a few days.

This cutting was taken on 24th march 2009, and planted into plain Vermiculite. I usually use a mix of 1 part Perlite to two parts Vermiculite, but I was out of Perlite and needed to get the pics done for the notes! It will be interesting to see how the rooting process differs if at all.

After the first week this little cutting is looking fine. The bag is well misted up which shows that there is sufficient moisture, and the cutting looks fresh and crisp. So far, so good!

Remember to place your cuttings in a well lit position that is out of direct sun. Under shadecloth with the rest of your Fuchsias is fine.

Some people keep the cuttings inside on a window sill until they have rooted. I don't have a suitable window and so have never tried this! (I also put in too many cuttings at a time - the window sill would have to be extremely large!!!)

Don't be tempted to remove the cover for at least a month! There really is sufficient moisture in the system to enable the cutting to root.

Cutting 1 week old-2

Cutting 1 week old-2, originally uploaded by pennyeast - MIA for a few days.

I have gently rubbed the bag to move some of the condensation. The cutting is clearly alive and well. Long may it last!

Tracking progress

I really will try to keep this up to date now!!!

The summer is still dragging on and temperatures are still very high so there have been huge problems with Red Spider Mite and many plants were more or less defoliated. Most of them look terrible!!

The mornings and evenings have begun to cool down, and there are the exciting signs of new growth starting up. There should be some good cutting material in a month or so.

The workshop at the Fuchsia Society meeting today is about propogation. I took a series of pics for Joy's notes and have put them up on Flickr. I intend to follow the progress of this little cutting, week by week on Flickr and here on the blog. I hope to take it all the way to the flowering stage if I can keep it alive that long!! LOL!



This shows the process of taking the cutting and preparing it for rooting.

Fuchsia 'Cornielle B'

The hot and windy weather has continued - as is to be expected in February in the Cape!

My young rooted cuttings (3 January) are taking strain and some have succumbed. A pity as I was hoping they would provide a couple of "Current Year" entries for the show. It's the chance you take with summer cuttings!!

The young Jhb plants are also not doing well. About 5 appear to be beyond help, and at least another five are taking strain, only a couple are looking good and strong. They have had a light Seagrow feed, so I'll just hang in there with them.

Not much to be done at present other than regular caterpillar patrols and careful watering - and a bit of hoping!!

Fuchsia of the Day

Cornielle B

She is a lovely full bloom that makes a beautiful basket. She does flower a little late, but her gorgeous pastel colours make her worth waiting for!

Fuchsia 'Cornielle B', originally uploaded by pennyeast.

Fuchsia 'Thais'

It has been VERY hot for a few days - around 36 C - and the plants are all looking a little tired. It is cooler today, but, of course, the wind is blowing strongly!! Will go out this morning and water everything well and give them a little Kelpac as a tonic and 'Pick-me-up".

I can't wait for the cooler weather!!!!

Fuchsia of the Day

Thais


Fuchsia 'Thais', originally uploaded by pennyeast.

We had our AGM this afternoon, followed by the prizegiving and a cocktail party. It all went well was fun. Although I didn't count heads, it seemed to be a fairly small turn out! - Usually the case with AGMs

Despite our worries beforehand, there was lots of food and it was all very nice - a good time was had by all.

The young JHB plants are not looking wonderful! Some look dead already, some have shed all their leaves, some are very limp, and a few look all right! I'm holding thumbs, but am not too hopeful!

Fuchsia of the day

Bella Rosella



This beautiful big blousy double is another of my favourites, she blooms quite heavily for her size and the blooms last well. She makes a stunning basket.

I am happy to say that I have eventually completed the summer tidy-up. All plants have been trimmed, topped up with compost and fed. The labels have been replaced as necessary, and my stock list is up to date!

The young plants from JHB are suffering in the intense heat of yesterday and today - three or four of them don't look as if they are going to survive. I'm doing what I can for them!

Fuchsia of the Day

Autumnale



This Fuchsia has been a challenge for me for a couple of years. It doesn't grow strongly, and is very awkward to train and shape, but the foliage is so beautiful that I am determined to get it right!! I'm going to try a "multi-planted" basket this year to see if that will help!!

The new little plants arrived today - 30 of them!! I was very impressed with the postal service - they left Johannesburg late yesterday morning and were here by 10 o'clock today!

They do look a little rumpled as they were packed pretty tightly to stop them moving around in transit. Most of them look strong and healthy after being potted up and watered and misted. 3 or 4 of them look pretty marginal - will just have to wait and see if they make it!

Fuchsia of the day


Aretha

Aretha is one of the "Diva" series of Fuchsias. She is quite a small plant, with small leaves and flowers. She is quite easy to train and flowers very heavily. Quite a happy co-operative plant!

Didn't do much in the shade house today - busy with other things!

Very excited to hear from Beth that she has some plants ready to mail to me! It has been so hot that she wouldn't disturb the young plants, but the heatwave has broken. can't wait to see what she sends and what condition they are in when they get here!! First time I've done this!

All my plants seem to be standing up to the heat very well, and there are lots of new shoots on the recently pruned branches - bodes well for cuttings later on.

Fuchsia of the Day

Annabelle Stubbs



This big, blousy beauty is one of my favourites! She does not flower heavily but when each bloom is so magnificent I can forgive her that!!

This poor little Blog was forgotten in the excitement of learning new things about photography, Flickr, Facebook, and many other new electronic delights!!

I'm going to try to pick it up again and run with it for at least a year!! I will be recording activities with my fuchsias, and in my garden in general.

The mature plants have all had their "summer pruning" last month, and the compost in the pots has been topped up, and a long lasting slow release 2:3:2 fertilizer added to the pots. I have bought in quite few new cultivars and intend to propagate lots of new plants when the weather cools down.

This weekend they were fed generously with Bounceback, and all the labels were renewed - best to do this while there are some flowers on the plantsand they are identifyable!! They all look the same after pruning!

Whitefly has been a major problem!! Thorough and regular spraying seems to have brought it under control now. Still battling with Hawkmoth caterpillars tho'.

This chap ( Hippotion celerio - Brown Vine Hawkmoth Caterpillar - Sphingidae) was huge and making a meal of a young plant. We have a few species ranging from dark brown/green to bright lime green. They all eat the same and end the same.





Fuchsia of the Day

Martin's Double Delicate






















This beauty is a new addition to my collection. I am delighted with it!! Lovely strong plant and beautiful blooms of good form and colour!