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                  NOTTINGHAM AND NOTTS FUCHSIA SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

                                               FEBRUARY 2016                                                              

 

                       

After writing my newsletter last month, I was surprised to find that, on inspection, most of my fuchsias were actually shooting, so I was doing better than I first thought. However, we are experiencing a few frosty nights now and as my greenhouses are unheated, I fear that my fuchsias may suffer.

I managed to do some pond maintenance this month. The water level had gone down and I suspected a leakage from the filter box. I decided to turn the pump off until I had time to investigate further. That time had come and after lots of patching up, my waterfall is back in action, but I am remaining vigilant!

 

I have been busy pulling out some very troublesome bulbs, (I have now discovered that they are wild garlic!) I have been doing this for several years now and I’m sure I mention it in my newsletter every year! (sorry to bore you!) I have managed to clear my fairly new stumpery and my rockery and have started down one of my borders. In a strange way, it is quite satisfying when you are left with a neat, tidy area with just the plants that are meant to be there (in my case – ferns and heucheras)

 

Birds are getting active, especially our sparrows, although we were visited by a sparrowhawk again this week. I know it’s nature but I do feel quite sad, knowing that one of ‘our’ sparrows would soon be doomed!

 

FUNDRAISING

The easiest way for all internet users to help raise funds for our Society is simply by every time you search the Web you use easysearch. Easysearch combines results from Yahoo!, Windows MSN Live Search and Ask.com in one simple search, the address is http://nottsfuchsia.easysearch.org.uk Please try it and encourage others too. Don’t forget if you make any purchases on the internet, to go through our webshop to make sure we receive commission from the retailers (currently over 2000 well known retailers), the address is http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/nottsfuchsia

FUTURE EVENTS IN 2016

 

As in previous years, we are planning to hold various plant sale events as well as some promotional events. Dates already confirmed are as follows:

 

Plant Sales

Friday 13th May

Wollaton Park Community Centre – 10.00a.m – 1.00p.m

Sunday 29th May

The Manor Bar & Restaurant, Toton – 12.00p.m – 4.00p.m

Sunday 5th June

Autokarna, Wollaton Park – ALL DAY

Please find below several articles taken from the latest edition of Fuchsia News found on the BFS website, should any of you want to read it in its entirety. (I have printed a few should any of you not have access to the website.

Excerpts written by Arthur Phillips from January 2016 Fuchsia News: -

 

My way of taking cuttings!

All you need for taking cuttings is very basic equipment – firstly plants with nice healthy young shoots. A potting medium, and some kind of propagator – and that is all there is to it!

Cutting material on plants in the next few weeks and months will be found in abundance, don’t worry if your plants have not leapt into life yet, that will, we hope come in the next few weeks. Cutting material needs to be soft (not woody), no flower buds and looking healthy. Cuttings can either be taken from your older plants or from other cuttings.

Cuttings will root in virtually anything, be it a peat-based compost, peat free compost, water or whatever. Fuchsias will root in it. If in doubt use a standard compost straight off the

shelves of your local garden centre or nursery – a quick read on the back will soon tell you if it is one that will be suitable for growing cuttings.

A propagator for your cuttings to root in is vital, as it will create a greenhouse type environment with lots of humidity so that the cuttings will root quickly and grow. Your propagator can be a proper one brought in just for the purpose, an upturned coffee jar placed on top of a pot, a container from the supermarket that your Sunday joint came in or a bunch of grapes. As long as it is fairly airtight then it will do the job.

Having got the equipment we can then start taking cuttings. Reading assorted books and publications, they will all tell you slightly different ways of taking cuttings, and the wonderful thing is that they all work. Growing fuchsias never has been and never will be an exact science, and when it comes to taking cuttings generally they will root and grow whatever you do.

The best way of taking cuttings, as far as I am concerned and I do take 30,000 plus a year, is as follows. You need a young growing stem, with a growing tip, a half opened pair of leaves, a fully opened pair of leaves and about ½" of stem. Cut the stem cleanly, with either a knife or fingernails, which ever you feel happiest doing. Place the cutting in the growing medium so that the lower leaves are just resting on the surface. Moisture will be trapped under those leaves and increase the humidity around the cutting. I personally use the little individual cells for my cuttings as I feel that the root disturbance is less when they go into their first proper pot.

Once you have finished taking cuttings, mist them over with a hand sprayer and cover them with the propagator lid. Keep them in a light but not too hot situation, mist them regularly and wait for them to grow! And they will! At this time of year the first roots will appear in 7 to 10 days and they should be ready for potting up into pots in about a month!

 

Pinching out and potting on!

Once your cutting has rooted then it can be given its first pot on and after that stage it will need potting on perhaps another once or twice in its first year. Here are a few guidelines and tips

 

- The first pot on should be done when the cutting is well rooted – look for new growth on the cutting that is always a good sign

- Try and disturb the roots as little as possible – minimal disturbance ensures that the plant does not really stop growing

- Choose a good quality compost – fuchsias are pretty amenable to all sorts of composts that are available

- Try not to jump the plant into too big a pot initially – it will come as a bit of a shock to a little cutting, bigger plants that are well established can take a bigger jump. Accepted practice is to go up one inch at a time

- Older plants with woody stems can be planted lower in the next pot to create a better effect for the summer. If need be carefully remove some of the roots at the base – do not do this with young plants!

 

And that is really all there is to it!

 

Secondly let’s look at pinching out or stopping as it is often called!

 

What are we aiming for when we grow fuchsias, mainly lots of flowers, so I guess that we could just leave the plant to grow as it wants to - so generally we would get a long thin straggly plant or we can take control, by pinching out our fuchsias.

 

So what is pinching out? If you want to grow a fuchsia that has a bushy growth, then you are going to need to pinch or remove the growing tip at a fairly early stage. (If you want to grow a standard then we will be covering that in another article – so don’t panic!) I let the rooted cutting grow to 3 pairs of leaves about 2" tall before removing the very tip of the plant. I remove the very smallest bit at the top; however if you want to use the bit that you take off as a cutting then you may want to let the plant grow slightly taller so that you can safely take off a larger tip. Remove the tip growth with a sharp pair of scissors with fine tips. I must admit that I use my finger nails, but this will not be practical for everyone. Make certain that the cut is just above the next set of leaves, as a piece of stem left behind will rot away and can cause problems.

 

Removing the tip stimulates the side shoots into growth, so that instead of having one main stem, the side shoots will take precedence. You have started to grow a bushy plant! Then let those side shoots grow until they have two or three pairs of leaves, and then remove their growing tips! And so on etc. etc! Having pinched out several times you will have a nice bushy plant with lots of growth. Remember that each time you remove a growing tip that you are going to at least double the number of main shoots. Each plant will be different in its growth –with a slow growing plant or a very short jointed one you may want to leave longer between pinches. A fast growing and rampant plant may need to be pinched out more often.

 

Pinching out does several things - firstly it creates a bushy plant, secondly it gives you control of the plants growth and finally, and perhaps most importantly it gives you a degree of control of when the plant will flower! As a general rule - single flowered fuchsias will flower after about 60 days, doubles about 80 days and triphyllas about 100 days. The word "about" is vital, as we can never guarantee when the plant will flower but it does give us a rough guideline!

Every year after the show, I submit data regarding our show to Carol Gubler, who collates all the results from other societies to produce the following summary. (Excerpt from January 2016 Fuchsia News): -

Top Ten 2015

2014 2015

 

1 Border Raider London 2000

2. Lynne Patricia Ernie

3. London 2000 Border Raider

4. Alison Patricia Lillian Annetts

5. Lillian Annetts Lynne Patricia

6. Lyndon Brookwood Belle

7. Brookwood Belle Lyndon

8 June Marie Shaw I’m in Charge

9. Pink Fantasia Sophie Louise

10. Ernie Boogie Woogie

 

2015 has seen quite a few changes to the Top Ten! Last year the surprise entry was Lyndon a seedling from Bill Wye from Chelmsford - this year two very new fuchsias have popped in to the list – firstly I’m in Charge – which is one of the ones being offered to new members and when you look at the parentage you can see why – it is a cross between Border Raider and Black Country 21 – and bred by Jim Gordon who introduced Border Raider! The other new entry is Boogie Woogie a Peter Waving seedling – so again from a good producer of show type fuchsias. Only 10 points separate the top 5 fuchsias and so it could have all been a bit different with a few more sets of results! Just under 300 fuchsias were on my lists by the end of the exercise and included a lot of familiar names plus a lot of new ones to me!

 

The 3 ½" pot classes produced the usual collection of small flowered fuchsias. Toby S was the winner in 2015 for the first time. The others in the top 5 were –Sophie Louise, Alison Patricia, Lyndon and June Marie Shaw. Just outside the top five were Wendy Bendy and Sweet Hollie. Three of the top 7 are plants by Ray Birt – as a good grower of these small flowered fuchsias he seems to have mastered the art of breeding them as well! Just under 130 different cultivars were shown in these classes.

 

In the baskets and hanging pots, there were few changes with Sylvia Barker followed by Putt’s Folly and after a gap there were Janice Ann, Waveney Gem and Time After Time. I cannot remember a year when Waveney Gem was not in the top two places! May be it will have a comeback in 2016. Just under 100 different fuchsias were on the list this time!

 

Finally my thanks to all the Show managers and their volunteers that compile the results on such a busy day – I couldn’t keep this project going for so many years without you!

 

 

Excerpt written by John Nicholass from January 2016 Fuchsia News: -

 

New Releases 2016

This article covers new fuchsias available commercially for the first time in the UK in 2016. This is all I am aware of at the time of going to press. My apologies in advance for any I have missed, but it would help me a lot if the specialist nurseries would send an electronic catalogue by email, or alert me to new cultivars they are planning to introduce in 2017, in November 2016. Also please could hybridisers let me know your new releases, and who will be marketing them.

 

Ann Reid

This is a cracking new fuchsia raised by Jim Reid, Show Secretary of the Black Country Fuchsia Society and named after his wife. It is an upright growing fuchsia with spreading growth, not strongly self-branching hence needs stopping well. The medium sized single flowers have a greenish white tube, white sepals with green tips and a vivid violet-purple corolla. The flowers contrast well against the light to mid green foliage. Mike Daw of Weston-super-Mare, has grown some really nice 15cm pots of this variety, but he say it initially grows very soft, so needs to make some wood to get a good plant. This is one I am trying as a standard. Available from Little Brook Fuchsias, St Margaret’s Nursery and Woodmoss Fuchsias. 

 

Before and After

This is a variegated sport from Time after Time, found and propagated by Don Harris. The flower is a semi-double with pale pink tube, sepals and corolla. Available from Percival's Fuchsias. 

Boogie Woogie

This is a new introduction from Peter Waving which has already done well on the show bench in 2015. A bushy upright and self-branching cultivar, it has plentiful single flowers with a rose-bengal tube and sepals and a mauve corolla. It is free flowering cultivar with the flowers contrasting well against the mid to dark green foliage. I have only grown this one for part of last year but it seems to shape very well. Parentage: ‘Margaret Viscountess Thurso' X 'Mavis Enderby'. Available from Little Brook Fuchsias, Percival's Fuchsias, St Margaret’s Nursery, Roualeyn Fuchsias, Clay Lane Nursery, Jacksons Nursery, Lonsdale Nursery, Potash Nursery and Woodmoss Fuchsias. 

Claire Simone

This is a new bush fuchsia introduction from John Allsop. Upright with mid to dark green foliage and single white flowers. The flower has a white tube, fully up white sepals with green tips and a half flared white corolla. Available from Little Brook Fuchsias. 

 

Elaine Cosgrove

A new introduction from Gordon Reynolds, this is named after a West Midlands fuchsia enthusiast and member of the Black Country Fuchsia Society. A bushy upright and self-branching cultivar, it has plentiful single flowers with a pink blushed white tube, pink blushed white sepals with green tips and a rose pink corolla. Gordon thinks this one will do well. Parentage: ‘Patricia Hodge’ x 'Barbara Reynolds'. Available from Percival's Fuchsias.

Ellie's Charm

This is a new bush fuchsia introduction from John Allsop. The plentiful flowers are semi-double, with a short pink tube, pale pink sepals, darker at the base and a fully flared white corolla. Available from Little Brook Fuchsias. 

 

Emma Payne

A new introduction from Mal Wilkinson and is a smallish single with deep pink tube and sepals and a white corolla. Mal said he was in doubt whether to release it as there was nothing different in the flower colour but it grew so well he thought it was worth it. Available from Percival's Fuchsias

Gill Chumbley

This new release for 2016 is one of the late Alan Swaby’s seedlings, a batch of which was grown on by Trevor Strickland on behalf of the Species, Hybridisation and pre-1914 Cultivars SIG. This was one of the selected cultivars and the right to name it was bought by Denys Strich who named it in memory of the late widow of a Clacton Fuchsia Society member. It is a bushy, short jointed upright with mid green foliage and a medium sized semi double flower with a purple red tube, purple red fully up sepals and a white corolla, four to eight petals with a scalloped edge and basal purple red veining. Parentage is not decipherable from Alan’s records. SIG Seedling No AS 25.

Available from Other Fellow Fuchsias. 

 

Hazelton

This is a new cultivar from Mike Percival. It is upright with medium sized single flowers. The flower has a medium length greenish white tube, greenish white horizontal sepals with greenish recurved tips and a pinkish-orange corolla.

Parentage: 'Hazel Elizabeth' x unnamed seedling. Available from Percival's Fuchsias.

Helen Louise

One of two new releases from Arnold Nicholls, this is an upright with white single flowers and a very pale leaf.

Available from Percival's Fuchsias. 

 

Hi Di

One of two new releases from Ray Birt, a typically floriferous small upright that one has come to expect from Ray. The small single flowers have a deep rose tube, deep rose sepals, carried half down with slightly recurved tips and a pale violet corolla. Parentage: ‘My Little Gem’ x ‘Wendy Bendy’. BFS Reg No 353. Available from Little Brook Fuchsias, Percival's Fuchsias and Roualeyn Fuchsias. 

Jenny Carr

One of three new introductions from Gordon Reynolds, this upright fuchsia has small to medium sized single flowers against light to mid green foliage. The single flower has a white tube, white sepals held half down with reflexed green tips and a china rose corolla. Named after an active member of the Black Country Fuchsia Society

Parentage: ‘Patricia Hodge’ x 'Barbara Reynolds'. Available from Percival's Fuchsias. 

 

Jean Shelton

This is another new introduction from Peter Waving. It is a bushy upright and self-branching cultivar, with a continuous flowering habit. The small single flowers have a rose pink tube and sepals and white corolla with pink veins. It was shown in a large pot at the BFS London Show in 2015. Parentage: unnamed seedling x 'Jack King'. Available from Clay Lane Nursery. 

John Galea

A new introduction from Tony Galea, this is a medium sized upright fuchsia with mid green foliage and medium sized single flowers. The flower has a pale pink tube, pale pink sepals held horizontally with green recurved tips and deep violet blue corolla with pink veining on the petals. Parentage: ‘Liza' x 'Frank Saunders'. BFS Reg No 378.

Available from Little Brook Fuchsias. 

Joy

One from Phil Horsham, this is an upright fuchsia, with medium single flowers which have a rose pink tube and sepals and lilac mauve corolla. One I inherited after the 2015 South Western Show as Phil left it behind. He told me to keep it and try it myself! Available from Little Brook Fuchsias. 

Just Binky

The first of the two new releases for 2016 from Bill Wye, this has single pink and white flowers which have a round shape described in the catalogue as like little dumpling blooms. Available from Percival's Fuchsias.

Just Pat

The second of the two new releases for 2016 from Bill Wye, this is a seedling from Lyndon, already successful in its own right and has caught a lot of enthusiasts’ eyes. It is a compact and self-branching cultivar and is covered with small single flowers which have a pink tube and sepals and a pale lavender corolla. It is certainly one I am going to try although I didn’t get on so well with Lyndon. Available from Percival's Fuchsias.

Kimberley

The second 2016 release from Arnold Nicholls. An upright bushy cultivar, this has a white tube with the faintest blush of pink, white sepals, held half up and faintly blushed pink. The corolla is not flared and has petals of a violet-blue with white at the base of the petals. Available from Percival's Fuchsias. 

Klu

A new introduction from Keith Middleton, named after his granddaughter Kelly Louise when she was 21. It is a bush type fuchsia with semi-double flowers with a pale pink tube and sepals and a white corolla. Parentage: ‘Border Raider’ x ‘Wigan Peer’. Available from Woodmoss Fuchsias.

Maggie Naylor

A new introduction from Gordon Goodwin, this bush type fuchsia has upward facing single flowers with a pink tube and sepals and a plum corolla which fades to deep pink as the flower matures. Available from Percival's Fuchsias. 

Martha Adcock

The second new introduction from Tony Galea, this is an upright growing fuchsia with single flowers. The flower has a crimson tube, crimson recurved sepals held half up and a deep violet corolla with red veining on the petals and pink at the petal base which contrasts well against the golden green foliage. Parentage: ‘Katy Flynn' x 'Liza'. BFS Reg No 379. Available from Little Brook Fuchsias. 

Olive Suker

This is another new release for 2016 is one of the late Alan Swaby’s seedlings, a batch of which was grown on by Trevor Strickland on behalf of the Species, Hybridisation and Pre-1914 Cultivars SIG. This was one of the selected cultivars and the right to name it was bought by Denys Strich who named in memory of a late widow of a Clacton Fuchsia Society member. The flower is a small to medium double, with a white tube, white sepals held half down and a half flared purple corolla with strong pink splashes on the petals and the growth habit is upright and bushy. Parentage: ‘Lillian Annetts' x 'Alison Patricia'. SIG Seedling No AL26. Available from Other Fellow Fuchsias. 

Our Jackie

One of two new releases from Brian Dodman, this has a spreading habit and a single pink flower with a picotee edge to the petals. Available from Percival's Fuchsias. 

Our Mandy

The second of two new releases from Brian Dodman, this has a bush habit and a single maroon/white flower.

Available from Percival's Fuchsias. 

President Peter Holloway

Named in honour of Peter after his term as BFS President, this new release from Sid Garcia looks very promising. With its compact, self-branchy and bushy growth, plentiful small to medium single flowers with a pale pink tube, pale pink sepals with green tips and pale lilac blue corolla with scalloped edged petals. Sid gave me and several others a nice plant at the June 2015 committee meeting in a 9cm pot. I moved it into a 10 cm pot and took a dozen cuttings off it stopping it all over. By late September it was in full flower and a lovely shape and was displayed on the BFS stand at the Malvern Autumn Show. Parentage: ‘Toby S' x 'Katy Flynn'. BFS Reg No 376.

Available from Little Brook Fuchsias, Percival's Fuchsias, Other Fellow Fuchsias, Jacksons Nursery, St Margaret’s Nursery, Roualeyn Fuchsias, Potash Nursery and Woodmoss Fuchsias. 

Reading Ruby

Named in honour of the fortieth anniversary of the Reading & District Fuchsia Society, this is a strong growing new fuchsia from Sid Garcia. It has medium to large single flowers with a red tube and sepals and a reddish purple corolla. Not one for the smaller pot sizes, though I think it will make a good larger pot. So far I have only grown it in a 15cm pot but I will try that plant in a larger pot this year. Parentage: ‘Alyssa May Garcia' x 'Katy Flynn'.

BFS Reg No: 377. Available from Little Brook Fuchsias, Percival's Fuchsias, Other Fellow Fuchsias, Jacksons Nursery, St Margaret’s Nursery, Roualeyn Fuchsias, Lonsdale Nursery, Potash Nursery and Woodmoss Fuchsias. 

Thomas Price

Another introduction from Gordon Reynolds, this has a lax upright habit of growth and light to mid green foliage. The small to medium single flowers have a very pale pink tube, very pale pink horizontally held sepals with green tips and a pale lavender corolla. It is named after the grandson of a Nottingham Fuchsia Society member. Parentage: ‘Dr Becky Reynolds' x 'My Little Ruby'. Available from Percival's Fuchsias. 

 

 

 

Sporting Chance

This is the latest introduction from Chris Bright. It is an upright variety with a single flower with a rose tube and sepals and a violet corolla. Available from Woodmoss Fuchsias. 

Win & Walt

This new release from Ray Birt has compact, bushy growth and small to medium single flowers with a rose red tube and horizontally held sepals with reflexed tips and an attractive bell shaped white corolla with red veins. This is one Ray has been showing for a few years now. Parentage: ‘Wendy Bendy' x 'Alicia Sellars'. BFS Reg No: 352.

Available from Little Brook Fuchsias, Percival's Fuchsias and Roualeyn Fuchsias. 

Winter’s Tale

A new lax cultivar for baskets and hanging pots with mid to dark green foliage from Barry Fleming carrying on his tradition of white cultivars. The single flowers have a greenish white tube, white sepals held half up with reflexed green tips and a white quarter flowered corolla. Carol Gubler comments "probably the whitest fuchsia I know".

Available from Little Brook Fuchsias. 

Zolly

A single flowered bush fuchsia from John Milnes. The single flowers have a pink tube and sepals and a pale lilac corolla. Parentage: ‘Twinny’ x ‘Alisha Jade’. Available from Woodmoss Fuchsias.

 

 

 

BEGINNERS CORNER

 

I thought this year I would dedicate part of the Newsletter to our newcomers, those that are new to the society and perhaps new to fuchsia growing and to showing. Remember, we’ve all been beginners once and I can recount some real success stories when members have taken the plunge and managed to put a plant on the show bench for the first time and got completely hooked.

 

Therefore, this section, I hope to encourage you to put that first fuchsia on the show bench and what a month to get started! We get our Free Cutting! You actually get two cuttings – one named and the other is a mystery! We would like you to nurture this mysterious one with the aim that this is to be exhibited at our Annual Show. We have a special class, Class 30. So, what do we do now?

 

  • Pot it up into a small terracotta pot.

 

  • Label it (I write ‘Show 2016’ on the label)

 

  • Keep it frost free

 

  • Diarise to attend our Beginner’s classes where you will gain more information on how to care for your fuchsias and to get them to show standard.

 

  • Review the schedule and pick which classes interest you (I’d suggest Beginners and Novices!)

 

 

Remember our next meeting

Will be

Tuesday 22nd March 2016

And our speaker

is

Colin Nicklin

Talking on BEGONIAS