Fuchias in the City - Berlin
Berlin On the trail of the fuchsia.
Coat of Arms of Berlin 200px
This was a quick trip, and we didn’t really get far out of Schöneberg or Berlin-Mitte, but I still did manage to find a few fuchsias lolling about. The funny thing about the florists of Berlin, I was told by a gardening friend, is that they offer two sorts of fuchsias: hängend oder stehend. “Does it go into a window box sitting on a ledge or hang over the balcony rail, or does it go into a pot standing on the floor?” It’s eminently practical, I suppose, but considerably less exciting in a city potentially full of so many planted windows and balconies, with room for so many fuchsias. Berlin bleibt Berlin, I guess. At least the city is still full of Schrebergärten colonies, sadly under increasing pressure from rapacious developers, with tons of other horticultural delights to make up for the omission. And, of course, there’s always a stroll Unter den Linden to take your mind off city streets and urban ways.

  • Berlin: On the Trail of the Fuchsia
  • A quick tour of some highlights of old Berlin: The Brandenburger Tor.
    Once a major barrier of the Cold War.
  • Since 1999, the historic Reichstag again seats Germany's parliament.

    It has a stunning new glass dome.

  • Ruins of the Kaiser-Friedrich-Gedächtniskirche.
  • The Bode-Museum. Its beautifully installed masterpieces of art are

    NOT to be missed on any tour of Berlin.

  • The Berlin Zoo. What a wonderful entrance.

    As whimsical as the Manship Gate at the Bronx Zoo.

  • OK. Back to the hunt. The weekly neighborhood market
    behind the St. Matthias Kirche in Schöneberg.
  • Offerings by the florist at the market’s corner are guaranteed to catch the passing eye.
  • Lots of lovely fuchsias to adorn any city window or balcony.
  • Another florist at the beginning of the Potsdammerstraße.
  • With everything displayed on another one of the ubiquitous steel racks. But this one with some fuchsias, of course.
  • Another market. This one across the square from the famous KaDeWe Department Store
  • The Alter St-Matthäus-Kirchhof, burial place of the Brothers Grimm.
  • There’s even a nursery just inside the cemetery gate.
  • This is one lucky dog, to dine under a fuchsia standard, even if his paw has gone missing.
  • The combination of yellow and white stucco with the bright, bright fuchsia is amazing.
  • Marlene Dietrich's birthplace. OK. Not a fuchsia

    but with THOSE red sepals she gets an honorable mention.

  • Yet another clay window box beautifully decked out with upright fuchsias.
  • The entrance to a Schrebergarten colony. These allotments are highly prized & quite fancy.
  • There’s even a small nursery inside this Kolonie.
  • A selection of ‘Koralle’ being offered to allotment owners.
  • Hanging fuchsias adorn the porch of this Laube,

    as these small garden cottages are called in German.

  • This one has a greenhouse and a basket of fuchsias hanging from its fruit tree.
  • With fruits like this, who needs to wait for the pears.
  • At the Bauhaus, Berlin’s version of the Home Depot where even the orange colors match.
  • Finally, a cultivar name. ‘Saturnus.’ And Winterhart means it’s winter hardy, too.
  • ‘Mme Cornelissen’ Still a grande dame even if she did arrive on the scene way back in 1860.
  • ‘Beckie-Lou?’ Not seen that one at home. Tempted, so tempted. But Customs ALWAYS seems to object…
  • ‘Son of Thumb.’ A favorite of mine.
  • Nice standards. Pricey, though, even with the falling Euro.
  • Fuchsien hängend. Big racks of them. Many racks of them. Many, many.
  • Yup. Hängend. Alles hängend. Color has to be noted from the flowers, though.
  • That’s all the photos here, folks. At this point I was scolded by management, “Es ist untersagt!” Hey, I'm not a spy for Aldi. Geesh. Silly people at Bauhaus to fear a friendly fuchsia report.
  • Time to move on. I suppose. Tschüß schöne Fuchsien hängend oder stehend. Onwards.
  • Walking slowly down the Eisenacher, there was a single clue on the crime scene that something was up.
  • Up overhead. Two lovely fuchsias anchored the ends of the balcony above.
  • Maybe they’re ‘Display?’ What do you think?
  • The Coat of arms of Berlin: The bear, of course, is a canting reference to the city's name.