The Fuchsia Spotlight. 'John Maynard Scales'
What’s flowering at the Fuchsietum? It seems I’ve been harboring Fuchsia ‘John Maynard Scales’ without realizing it. Got this unknown from a friend a couple of years ago and it’s finally decided to declare itself. The hybrid is a cross from the prolific Edwin Goulding in 1985, reportedly between F. ‘Thalia’ [F. triphylla x F. fulgens] x F. fulgens ‘Gesneriana’. Its leaves take on a lovely maroon flush, especially prominent in the new growth.
Besides being the well-known author of Fuchsias: The Complete Guide (1995) and sometime Editor and Show Manager of the British Fuchsia Society, Goulding produced quite a number of hybrids at his nursery in Bentley, Suffolk. Gouldings Fuchsias, where he offered almost a thousand fuchsias in addition to his own creations, was closed in about 1999.
Goulding often named his plants for friends and acquaintances, such as John Maynard Scales in nearby Ipswich. Unfortunately, like other breeders who release such large numbers of hybrids, many are now very hard to come by, or possibly even extinct.
One of Goulding’s almost infamous plants is the difficult F. ‘Our Ted’. It’s a near-white-flowered triphylla type that resulted from F. ‘Thalia’ crossed with itself. It can be devilishly hard to cultivate or even propagate. It persists, I suppose, both because of its unusual color and the challenge of simply keeping it alive. No, I don’t have it but would certainly love the challenge!