"seven" wrote in
:


"Ophelia" wrote in message
...

"seven" wrote in message
...
Hiya all, I have been lurking for a while with the occasional post
and
have
actually got one about gardening. I have only been gardening for a
little
over a year really, so am a beginner.

What I wanted some advice on was on the subject line.

I have these in the garden and in pots, they have done well and
flowered since the summer and still look good after being covered
in a layer of
snow.

The main thing I wanted to know is how long is their lifespan and
how do
I
get the best out of them,


I have been very surprised at the length of the flowering as all the
other plants in my garden had stopped flowering months ago.

I just hope the fuchsia I have starts looking better in the spring as
it doesn't look too good just now out in the garden, but I really
loved it when it was in flower a few months ago. Thankfully I was
advised by someone in this group to take cuttings, which I did, and
they seem to be doing well, so if the original doesn't survive the
winter I should have some cuttings to plant up in the spring.

Pansies are usually grown as annuals, though I too find that they often
last for two or three years. They do tend to get leggy after the first
year, though, and flower less well. As they are relatively easy to grow
from seed I tend to grow new plants rather than coaxing the old one back
- it's easier.

I think violas are more often grown as short-lived perennials, but I am
not sure if mine are perennial or if they just seed themselves! You
will probably find they come up all over if you just keep the weeds
back.

Fuchsias will all be looking a bit manky at the moment, particularly the
less hardy sorts. I find here they pretty much all come back from the
roots, even if the top growth is killed off, and I have a couple of big
hardy 'tree fuchsias' that survive very well.

If you are somewhere colder, you may be less lucky. It might be worth
bunging on a mulch of straw or compost to give it a little extra
protection before it gets really cold, and of course you do have
cuttings just in case.

If you like fuchsias, you might like to try crinodendron hookeriana next
year too - that makes quite a big bush or a small tree, with big
fuchsia-like flowers, and is a long-lived perennial that needs very
little looking after.

Victoria
--
gardening on a north-facing hill
in South-East Cornwall
--