The Fuchsia Spotlight. Campo Thilco

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What’s flowering at The Fuchsietum? Fuchsia 'Campo Thilco'. This hybrid is resistant to the ravages of the Brazilian fuchsia gall mite, Auculops fuchsiae, as well as fuchsia rust (Pucciniastrum epilobii)….➤ Read More

Julian A. Steyermark

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Venezualian-American botanist, Julian Alfred Steyermark was born today on Jan. 27, 1909. His long career included the Field Museum of Chicago, the Jardín Botánico de Caracas of the Universidad Central of Venezuela and….➤ Read More

The Fuchsia Spotlight. Fuchsia juntasensis

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Fuchsia juntasensis is restricted to cloud forest on the northeast slopes of the Andes in Bolivia's Cochabamba Department, where it occurs at elevations between about 1,900 to 2,800 meters. Flowering is primarily in the dry season from June-Octoiber. It belongs….➤ Read More

The strange case of Nils Lilja & the fuchsia

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Nils Hansson Lilja, the colorful and decidedly eccentric Swedish intellectual, writer, poet, watchmaker, newspaper publisher, gardener, horticulturalist, and botanist, was born on October 17, 1808 at Blinkarp, Röstånga, in the province of Scania. His early education was at Malmö where….➤ Read More

Georg Forster & Skinnera excorticata

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German naturalist Georg Forster was born today in 1754. Along with his father, Johann Reinhold Forster, the young Forster accompanied James Cook on his second voyage of discovery in the Pacific. At Queen Charlotte Sound in New Zealand….➤ Read More

William Botting Hemsley

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British botanist William Botting Hemsley was born on this day, December 29, 1843, in the village of East Hoathley with Halland, East Sussex. Hemsley spent most of his professional career at the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew….➤ Read More

The Inca and the Fuchsia

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Even before the first fuchsias came to the attention of European botanists and explorers, Fuchsia boliviana was well known to the native peoples of the Andes. The Incas of Peru and Bolivia cultivated it for its edible berries from at least the beginning of their empire in the Twelfth Century….➤ Read More

Happy Happy 2020!

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Fuchsia fireworks from Fuchsia arborescens to usher in 2020. Having left NYC behind, it's a new garden and new start for me at the new Fuchsias in the City here in PDX. I've got a bunch of planning to do and I'm looking forward to what the next year will bring. There's already a bunch of new starts waiting….➤ Read More

Édouard André. Horticulturalist. Andean adventurer

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Édouard André (1840-1911) was a noted French horticulturalist and one of the most prominent and celebrated European landscape designers of the second half of the 19th Century. Born in Bourges into a modest family of nurserymen, he received his early training and invaluable gardening experience….➤ Read More

Fuchsia boliviana. Good for what ails the heart

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Fuchsia berries are very edible. For some reason this fact often surprises people. Granted some are better tasting than others. Some much better. This fact is again not surprising as most fuchsias were bred for their flowers than than…➤ Read More

A new hummingbird in Ecuador

Ex aequatoria aliquid novum and this time it's a new hummingbird. A little stunner newly named Oreotrochilus cyanolaemus, or the blue-throated hillstar, was only just spotted in 2017 in that hotbed of biodiversity and speciation, Ecuador….➤ Read More

Fuchsia cordifolia. Just for a day.

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I know. I know. Fuchsia cordifolia Benth. is really a synonym of Fuchsia splendens Zucc. A couple of botanists got their descriptions crossed and it’s always, “First come, first served”. But it’s the Feast of Saint Valentine today and the old heartleaf fuchsia...➤ Read More

Charles Darwin and the fuchsia

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Everybody knows Darwin. The man surely needs no introduction. Charles Robert Darwin (1809-1882) was, of course, the great British naturalist, geologist and biologist best known for his seminal and explosive work, On the Origin of Species in 1859...➤ Read More

Between the years

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Since well before the holiday last week, the weather’s still been pretty mild here. That’s not really all that unusual. In spite of the plunge in November, the really cold snaps usually have the good sense to wait until the New Year’s...➤ Read More

Bursting into the New Year

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Like a small explosion of fireworks, a panicle of Fuchsia arborescens flowers bursts brightly from the tip of a branch. Wishing everyone a great start to the coming seasons this New Year’s Day, as well as another fabulous 365 days filled with the wonders and promises of nature...➤ Read More

The indomitable spirit of the fuchsia

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It seems like this winter just won’t end. Snow, snow, freezing polar vortices, and then more snow. Just when I thought we had finally rounded the frozen bend this past week, the temperatures are scheduled to drop...➤ Read More

For the new year, an old fuchsia. Fuchsia antiqua sp. nov.

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I have some good news to share with ardent fuchsiaphiles everywhere. Other botany and horticulture nuts as well. Heck, with everybody. I’m having a hard time keeping my excitement in check...➤ Read More

Shuffled Schufia

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Judging from the way botanists usually devise new names, you would think that Section Schufia, one of the twelve into which the genus Fuchsia is divided, was named to honor a famous and eminent botanist by the name of...➤ Read More

Bracie's fuchsia

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Plant names in botany can often seem alien or inscrutable, as if they landed on Earth on a scrap of paper fallen from the pocket of John Carter of Mars, or hitched a ride from the highest heights of Tibet...➤ Read More