Fuchsia

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Fuchsia (lat. Fuchsia) - a blooming perennial from the Cyprian family.

A bit of history

Fuchsia was first discovered by Charles Plumier, a famous French scientist, the author of a huge number of scientific works, who was once awarded the honorary title of "King's Botanist". And this event happened during another expedition to the distant West Indies (in 1696) near Santo Domingo, the current Dominican capital. Inspired, Plumier named the fuchsia he discovered in honor of Leonart von Fuchs, the famous German physician-botanist. And after a while, this name was also used by Karl Linnaeus, who is formally considered its author, since this name is officially dated 1753.

Description

Fuchsia is an evergreen shrub or tree, numbering about a hundred species. At the same time, most of them are cultivated as ornamental plants, which in turn, to a large extent, contributed to the breeding of a huge number of varieties. And the height of these plants can vary from forty centimeters to one meter.

Fuchsia's branches are quite flexible, generously covered with slightly reddish or greenish, not very large leaves. The opposite leaves, reaching four to five centimeters in length, have a characteristic oval-lanceolate shape. They are slightly jagged at the edges and slightly pointed at the tips.

The flowering of fuchsia is quite long and very abundant, and its flowers can be either simple or double, and they are painted in a wide variety of colors. Each flower is formed by two parts: tubular corollas equipped with bending leaves, as well as bright convex cups of a characteristic corolla shape. After the fuchsia has faded, very pretty fruits are formed on it, which are edible berries.

Where grows

The homeland of fuchsia is considered to be New Zealand, as well as the South American and Central American expanses.

Growing and caring

Fuchsia will grow best in a moderate or even cool temperature regime - if the thermometer rises above eighteen to twenty degrees, it can not only drop the leaves with flowers, but also die. And in winter, it is recommended to keep a beautiful plant at a temperature of six to ten degrees.

Fuchsia is very partial to loose, slightly acidic soils. Ready-made soil mixtures containing vermiculite, coconut fiber or peat, as well as hydroponics, are especially suitable for growing it.

In the summer season, fuchsia should be watered abundantly (the soil should be constantly moist) and sprayed systematically, and in winter, watering should be moderate, since a beautiful plant has a dormant period at this time. In addition, in the summer, it is recommended to take out fuchsia in partial shade in the open air. As for transplants, they are carried out every year in the spring. In this case, it is important to ensure that the soil intended for replanting consists of two parts of fresh peat land, of three parts of clay-sod land and of one part of sand. Don't forget about proper drainage. In addition, fuchsia is pinched in the spring.

With the onset of spring, fuchsia shoots are cut off by about a third of their total length - the cut parts will subsequently go to cuttings (fuchsia is best propagated by cuttings). It is quite acceptable to grow this plant from seeds, however, in this case, the preservation of all the main characteristics of the mother plants is not guaranteed.

Diseases with pests do not bypass the beautiful fuchsia side - it is often damaged by rust, gray rot, spider mites, whiteflies and aphids.