Fuchsia spotlight. First Success
What’s flowering at The Fuchsietum? Fuchsia ‘First Success’ is an alluring cross between F. paniculata x F. splendens bred in the Netherlands in 1985.
It’s actually proven quite hardy in my garden having even survived last year’s unusual arctic blast that hit us with 14 F (-10 C) on a couple of consecutive nights. It did die back to the ground but then eventually bounced back to almost seven feet the following season.
BUT here’s the catch. It’ll never flower planted out. Winter takes away any chance of that happening. Whatever buds might be forming are killed as the tips turn to frozen spinach with the first frost.
I’ve returned it to captivity in a pot. It’s back in the greenhouse now, flowering away on its own preferred schedule. It does get me thinking what contributions its pollen parent F. splendens has made to many cultivars and might still have to make. Including imparting some degree of hardiness to its progeny.
