I got a fuschia about 2 months ago...it's blooming perfectly, however...I have noticed a blackish red color bulb of berry on it in different places. what are these, should I clip them out, is that a seed to grow? I am so clueless!!
Sounds like the berries that contain the seeds. To keep your Fuchsia flowering for as long a period as possible I would recommend that you pick them off. Regular dead heading of shrivelled flowers will prevent them forming. The berries are edible.
I've never noticed any diminution of flowering on Fuchsia magellanica even when with a heavy crop of fruit. I'd leave them for bird food, if I don't eat them myself.
Thanks so much. I try to keep up with the removal of the dead flower, but a few do get away. The berry, is it the top portion of the flower?
Agree with Michael, I wouldn't attempt to dead head Fuchsia magellanica either !!!! Found a good pic of the berries for you .See.... http://images.google.com/imgres?img...microsoft:en-gb:IE-SearchBox&rlz=1I7SUNA&sa=N
Hi Luddite, Interesting pic, it is a Fuchsia, but I think not F. magellanica; all the F. magellanica berries I've ever seen have been narrow cylindrical, not four-lobed. Fuchsia magellanica: flowers above, slightly immature berries below.
Hi Michael, Sorry for any confusion with my last post. I just picked a pretty pic of a Fuchsia berry off the net. I have no idea which Fuchsia it came from- or which one the thread is referring to. You pic of F. magellanica is very clear, both of the flowers and berries.
Fuchsia magellanica goes on forever and is far too big to deadhead. Instead,I have a freehouse of aphids, caterpillars and fruit for little birds outside the backdoor, which gives pleasure for months on end. And I can always find our recycling boxes after collection, as they are full of spent flowers, as are the cat's feet, the backdoormat, and the bird table. I have only recently read about eating the fruit, apparently it makes good preserves of various sorts, but is low in pectin, and so best mixed with a high pectin fruit such as crabapples.
I have that type also, do you think I can plant it in the ground successfully? I live in zone 7 and so far it hasn't got cold this year only in the 60s.
Zone 7 is too cold for Fuchsia magellanica to grow as a shrub. It is usually OK in zone 8, but can get cut back to ground level in a bad winter if temperatures drop below about -10° to -15° or so. You could try growing it as a herbaceous perennial though, it should come back from the roots easily, and in mild winters it'll last through above ground. Not sure if you might have problems with summer heat, it is adapted to cool summers (around 15° to 20°).
