Alwin Fuchsia

Fuchsia
Fuchsia ‘Alwin’
(FEW-she-uh)

This is one of the hanging baskets we picked up yesterday. It isn’t as showy as some of the purple/red types but looked nice in a traditional sort of way. It is stashed in the greenhouse tonight and probably over the weekend in case of cold temperatures. There are no frost or freeze warnings but for the amount of money the annuals cost I would rather not take any chances. Everything is going to start getting planted on Monday and that will be a happy day. Tomorrow will put everything outside for a day of acclimation but it is going indoors over the weekend. The greenhouse is being kept cool this time of year but the heat is on as a back up.

Fuchsia flowers always amaze me. I can recall many times of ‘popping’ the buds during my youth. Back then it is hard to remember if that messed up the flower afterwards. Just for old time sake I did pop a couple on ‘Alwin’. There isn’t whole lot of information on ‘Alwin’ available in English (mostly Dutch, I think). It appears to have been introduced in 1976. The plant tag was no help so we will just treat it like a stock type of Fuchsia. This includes planting or hanging in shade and being kept well-watered and fed. We are not lucky to consider this plant a perennial (some types are hardy) and treat it like an annual. I usally try and clean up the spent flowers once or twice a week and will pinch any errant growth to promote bushiness.


This is a bud picture of ‘Alwin’. My camera fogged up a bit before taking it.