Fuchsias in the City
The Fuchsietum
Gardens evolve. They change. They’re never the same from season to season. Nor from year to year. Of course it’s their nature and their essence. And, boy, this one's changed quite a lot. The Fuchsias in the City are now in Portland, Oregon in a whole new space that they're happily making their own!
Formerly on 1/92nd of an acre (1/224th ha) in Manhattan, New York, the old garden may have been small but there were thrills and there were chills. The first fuchsias of the season. The malodorous flowering of Dracunculus vulgaris, falsely arrived as an Arum italicum. The excruciating invasion of the hoary caterpillars. Hurricanes. Killer heat waves. Freak snow storms. Spring and summer flowers. And the final flourishes of toad lilies and cyclamen among the falling leaves. You can still enter the ➤ Hortulus Fuchsiarum Time Portal™ and check out how things were in Manhattan.
This new garden will be a work in progress. It's a generous 1/15th acre with a sunny, southern exposure. The USDA Climate Zone has seen a bump up as well. It's now 8b, bordering on 9a. Or Zone 6 on the more locally accurate Sunset climate scale. ➤ Sunset Zones. Portland's maritime-influenced climate has little in common with the heat and humidity of similar USDA zones in the Eastern and Southern US. Portland is practically a fuchsia paradise. Correction, it is a fuchsia paradise. Fuchsias love this climate. Many are entirely winter hardy here.
The Fuchsietum
Gardens evolve. They change. They’re never the same from season to season. Nor from year to year. Of course it’s their nature and their essence. And, boy, this one's changed quite a lot. The Fuchsias in the City are now in Portland, Oregon in a whole new space that they're happily making their own!
Formerly on 1/92nd of an acre (1/224th ha) in Manhattan, New York, the old garden may have been small but there were thrills and there were chills. The first fuchsias of the season. The malodorous flowering of Dracunculus vulgaris, falsely arrived as an Arum italicum. The excruciating invasion of the hoary caterpillars. Hurricanes. Killer heat waves. Freak snow storms. Spring and summer flowers. And the final flourishes of toad lilies and cyclamen among the falling leaves. You can still enter the ➤ Hortulus Fuchsiarum Time Portal™ and check out how things were in Manhattan.
This new garden will be a work in progress. It's a generous 1/15th acre with a sunny, southern exposure. The USDA Climate Zone has seen a bump up as well. It's now 8b, bordering on 9a. Or Zone 6 on the more locally accurate Sunset climate scale. ➤ Sunset Zones. Portland's maritime-influenced climate has little in common with the heat and humidity of similar USDA zones in the Eastern and Southern US. Portland is practically a fuchsia paradise. Correction, it is a fuchsia paradise. Fuchsias love this climate. Many are entirely winter hardy here.
