I started growing upright fuchsias about 3 years ago, after giving up on hanging ones (due to gall mite) about 5 years before. I had no fuchsia mite issues for the first year, had problems with one plant the second & rampant problems the third (this) year. My nettala has escaped the mite, thus far, and wonder if it's due to proximity - ie. the other fuchsias are near each other, the nettala is 25 - 30 feet away. I've used Bayer 3in1 (the only place I use this in my garden), & it worked for a while, but doesn't seem to help any more by the end of the summer. I love the fuchsias & was propagating them, but am about ready to give up on having more than one or two.

Carol: Yes, it's "safe" to grow fuchsias again, thankfully. If you want a local source for a decent selection of uprights and basket types go to Certified Plant Growers...it's on Firestone Blvd. just west of the 605 freeway by about 1/2 a mile. (Don't know if that's the city of Downey or Norwalk...) They usually have their fuchsias out for sale around March 1st. Everything is in gallon cans and they're VERY cheap. It's a wholesale/landscapers nursery that sells to the public. They also have great annulas, perennials etc. It's a little hard to see from the street but it's right behind TARGET and the flood control channel. It's basically a self service nursery...not a lot of employees to walk around with the customers and answer questions...hence the wholesale pricing. Under the power lines for SCE. The place is huge. They grow their own material, no buying from a middle man.

Zuzu: I agree about that place spelling fuchsia incorrectly !!!

"Voodoo" upright fuchsia is very sun tolerant in case anyone wants to know...and it can get pretty big, but easy to keep manageable. It's an older cultivar but has stood the test of time.

Some of my favorites are "back" and available again: Golden Anniversary, Bicentennial, Royal Mosaic...all double uprights (if I remember correctly) with huge blooms and gorgeous streaks and veining. I managed to save one Swingtime from years ago and it's very disease/mite resistant.

When I was a hardcore "fuchsiafile" and grew mainly the basket types, I would plant 3 to a redwood basket and starting in the spring, pinch them every time they got TWO sets of leaves, not allowing them to grow ANY vertical sprouts. When the basket got to the size I wanted it to be I'd switch from a high Nitrogen food to something like Superbloom with a low N content and high P content. They would be laden with blooms for months. Finding redwood baskets anymore is almost impossible :(.

Sorry this was so long...didn't intend to ramble !

Ramble on, JD! Your post is full of great information.

I also love Golden Anniversary, Bicentennial, and Royal Mosaic. They are hanging basket staples, along with Quasar and Pink Marshmallow.

Voodoo is one of the very best to grow in the ground. It's the middle of November and mine is still blooming like crazy. Mine's mostly in shade, however. It gets about an hour of sun each day.

Thanks for clarifying that those mentioned are basket types. It's been so long I've forgotten. I need to go back to the website you referred Pirl and I to and re-educate myself :)

Here, they do best in redwood containers vs. clay pots. The redwood holds moisture and doesn't dry out like clay. Misting them in the mornings BEFORE noon, both from underneath and overhead was essential to my success with them. A grower in Leucadia told me that misting before noon was imperative because the leaf pores were open until that time of day and they utilized the misting best that way. I tried it and it worked. I only stuck to that method for those growing in containers, not the ones planted in the ground. The misting also was very instrumental in killing off any spider mites that may have been present.

In the past, I discovered that there are few varieties that can be grown either way...they'll cascade as well as grow vertically.
When the gall mite became a problem, the only chemical that worked well to control it was "Thiodan" which was (at the time anyway) only available in "Cookes Garden Spray". Then they took it off the market. Never saw or heard of it again after that.

I find it very interesting that looking at my folks' black and white wedding photo's that my mom's (huge) bouquet had fuchsia blossoms cascading from it. Who knew ? You never see that anymore.

Back in the 90's I had a VERY cool fuchsia called "Swanley Yellow" which wasn't yellow at all, but sort of a peachy/white with some yellow "hints" to it. I drove all the way to San Diego to get it...and of course it bit the dust with all the others. I would kill to have that one again.

Liz, this is what Annie's posted about Nettala http://www.anniesannuals.com/p...
She seems to only offer the mite resistant ones.

We should start a cutting exchange.

That's a good one, Sue. Someone on our garden tour has it and it's really big. Great flower shape with that "see through" effect. Are there others shaped like that ???

Sue, I got the Nettala from Annie's. ;-) It was a tiny plant, when I got it; I keep it trimmed to about 4 ft. now. I've given quite a few people cuttings, because they're so easy to root!

They aren't only for baskets, JD. I grow Quasar, Bicentennial, and Golden Anniversary in the ground as uprights too. They're leftovers from baskets a few seasons ago. They don't overwinter well in the baskets, so I plant them in the ground at the end of the season.

Fuchsias would be a spectacular addition to a bridal bouquet!

I have Nettala too Liz, in a large pot. I hope to plant it in the ground soon.
I have another one that I lost the label for, probably an Annie's purchase too, it is in a large wine barrel planter on the shaded porch by my front door. It got hit with spider mites during the summer, lost almost all it's leaves but now has nice new leaf growth. It grew to the top of the overhang, bent forward and now is reaching for the sky. I should have pinched it to get it bushier but didn't want to stress it more with the mites. probably wouldn't have bothered it though. Next year it will be better!

My Nettala is in a pot too, as are several other of my fuchsias.... partly so I can treat them with chemicals to battle the mite.

What do you all suggest for gall mite? Any success stories. As I said, I've been using Bayer 3-in-1, and just bought Bayer 12 month Tree & Shrub, but haven't tried it yet.

I never treated mine, just tossed them and got these from Annie's and never had any problem, including with Nettala

Sigh.... guess I should stick with the mite resistant ones too. But it's good to hear your feedback that they really are mite resistant!

Earthworks is having another sale. The starts are $2.75 each: 155 trailing varieties and 230 uprights.

http://www.fuchsias.net/zcart/...

Okay Zuzu, you've got my interest. I'm searching the Earthworks site for mite resistant fuchsias.... I'm assuming that it's too late to plant them in the ground.

If it weren't this time of year, I'd put them straight in the ground, but they're so small that I'd rather keep them under cover until the end of February. You won't be sorry, Liz. It's such a great price!

Great tips on this thread - thanks! I have one in-ground fuchsia which I tend to forget about since it emerges so late in the spring (but is always lovely when it does show its face) and usually do a hanging basket on the front porch from grocery store starts - I've never had any noticeable problem with bugs. You folk are inspiring me to branch out a bit next season. I assume cedar baskets would work much the same as redwood?

Yes, Bonehead. Cedar will work just as well. Go for it !

Fuchsias were my first love they took hold of me, paradoxically, in the freezing midwest, inside a dark, windowless science-lab office with only daytime florescent light hung 15 feet in the air ... where they bloomed their sweet hearts out in the middle of winter! *oohs, aahs, and huge happy sighs*

Now that I am in warmer climes, I tried fuchsias as my go-to plants in the garden, but I also had the problem of twice-daily waterings needed just to keep them barely alive in the summer. I put in one highly susceptible species (f. lycioides) to check my heat-and-cold hardy varieties for disease resistance, and while lycioides is always in a constant state of disease from gall mite (yet manages to survive and send out new healthy leaves below each summer's mite-striken ones), none of the resistant plants have ever come down with it. I even planted a cutting of it in with f. var. procumbens with no problems.

The fuchsia that have done well and remained healthy for me in temperature ranges down to 28 degrees (without mulching or doing anything else for them) in winter are:
Amber Rose
Beacon Rosa
Billy
Black Magic
Bobolink
Cameron Ryle
Chaquita Maria
Clashing Beauty
Compos-portoi
Constance
Flash
Fusedia
Galfrey Lye
Grace McCarthy
Iced Champagne
Jack Shahan
Lena
Margaret Roe
Margery Blake
Mini Rose
Molinae
Mood Indigo
Preston Guild
Quasar
Reading News
Rufus
Santa Cruz
Tennessee Waltz
The Aztec
Var. Procumbens
Waltz Jubelteen
Wendy's Beauty

Those that are heat resistant as well as cold-hardy, and did okay-to-good in up to 108 degrees (yet still needed constant watering) in my garden, are:
Cambridge Louie
Cardinal
Delta's Parade
Foxgrove Wood
Garden News
Hermiena
Sharkie

I've finally and reluctantly taken the hardiest and, to me, prettiest ones out of the garden and brought them up to our shady patio as potted plants. I was never able to successfully harvest seed from hybridizations, so with the constant care needs and no chance to experiment with crossed seedlings ... well ... I have turned my active passion over to the daylilies. But, fuchsia will always be to me the symbol of renewal in the darkest, coldest tunnels (albeit, indoors) bringing the joy of spring into the harshest of seasons ... they are such modest yet exquisite beauties!

Sadly, I have only the one....Firecracker.... which has been in bloom constantly for months now. Should I end up in a climate more hospitable to them, I will then be able to indulge my fuchsia fantasies a bit more.

The midst of Winter in Iowa was where I found Scented Geraniums...lol..

Great lists, Tina!

Firecracker is one that I have trouble growing, Sherry. It grows well for one year, but looks miserable when it tries to come back the second year. I now grow it only as an annual.