Mostly a Fuchsia fit for being a bush form will shape it self, but some has to be helped a little in order to be more branched, so that they will be more compact which after my opinion makes the Fuchsia much more beautiful. Some bushy Fuchsia is also named as "a wobbly bushy" and for those types you have to help it a little by ties a stick to the stem until the stem are strong enough to hold it self straight. The same procedure has to be followed when the Fuchsia is one of the types named large-flowered because the stem can have problem holding those heavy flowers and therefore the stems can easily break.

A little guideline for how to make the perfect basket is

• Take 3 well rooted cuttings and plant them in a basket at approx. 25 cm (for a basket on 20 cm 2 cuttings will be enough although you have to take in consideration if or not the plants will be large as e.g. Diana is).
• Cut the plants 2-3 times early spring, which will help the plant to be branching with more side shoot. Cut just over the 3. par of leave.
• Just before the plants are starting to make flower bud you have to pinch the top shoot, this will provide side shoot alongside of the hanging side shoot.
• Place the plant in filter light, by placing it in filter light you don’t need to turn the plant every day, to avoid the plant to stretch after light.

Place the basket so that the branch without any effort can grow along the basket.

A stemmed up Fuchsia is best made out of a very vigorous cutting, and this cutting has to be tied to a stick right away.

The side shoot has to be cut/pinched as they grow, and that has to be done after the first leaf pair. The foliage has to stay on because it’s the foliage that helps draw nourishment from the sun and to ensure the optimal growth.

When the plant has reached the height that you want your plant to have the top shoot must be cut off. Doing that will force the plant to set it’s shoot from the upper leaves, and those site shoots must again be pinched/cut of after the first/second leaves pair. This procedure with the new shoots has to be followed until the top is formed and shaped well.

You must from starting the stem up know a little about how high you want the plant to end up as, because you must use a solid plant stick that is long enough to reach up over the top when it’s finish. In the start phase it’s necessary to tie the crown to the stick in order to avoid that the shoots will break under the weight of the heavy flowers.

Don’t expect that you already the first year will have a big enormous crown because normally it takes a couple of years to make a high stem Fuchsia.

Furthermore you must known that it can take some work and some annoying the first two – tree times you try to make a stemmed up Fuchsia because it’s a demanding job and many things can go wrong during the phases. The plant can easily be oblique, the light has to be taken in consideration and perhaps will one of the site shoot break of just as the plant is almost perfect, and then one ahs to start all over!

If you make high and big plants you must also take in consideration that those plants will demand a lot more space when you have to find a storage place for the winter. Therefore it maybe a better idea to make a mini three which also is very decorative and easier to winter store. Here you must let the stem become 30-40 cm high and let it the site shoot spread well. At 30-40 cm´s the crown mostly will be free from the earth. Do you want to make some of those decorative plants, bushy or stemmed please read some of the well described book materials that is made concerning this issue.

Where in the garden can/must one place the Fuchsia?

The placement has enormous influence of our Fuchsia if they shall keep/have the original colour combination that they are "born" with.

A colour guideline can all ways help - so if you place them after this, you should get the best out of the plants.

• Aubergine, orange and dark colours are best placed in some sun.
• Blue, red and violet colours are best placed in light that is filtered.
• Pink, lavender, pale violet and rose colours are best in half shadow.
• White and very pale colours are best placed in shadow.

Some Fuchsia manage the sun better than others - and if you place a white Fuchsia in the sun it will normally become a little pale red where it suppose to be white, so therefore it’s wise to prepare the placement from the colour wish you had when you bought the Fuchsia.

The trimming must be done before the frost is starting, which means end autumn. There’s several ways to do the winter preparation and there´s many different meanings of how much the plants much / can be cut back…

But – it’s only the plants fram last years season that must be cut down, young plants from the same spring / summer must not be cut down.

Some examples:

• The plant can be cut as close to the pot edge as 10 cm´s if you wish to have a little compact bush or compact basket. (This method is ideal if you don’t have much space for winter storage…)
• You can also cut down to the last set of that branch that has grown out for the summer season. Then you cut right over the last set – which means just over the place where the first pair of the foliage has been. Doing it this way give you plant a better possibility to make new shoots next spring.
• For the stem up Fuchsias you must prepare them as i point 2, but only cut in the crown never in the stem. Remember to remove site shoots and foliage that has been grown unwanted at the stem.
• I don’t cut the young plants because they has to work all winter … and therefore they must be storage the whole winter by temperatures not below 8- 10 degrees.
• The plants made late summer – early autumn must keep the coat (leaves) on, otherwise they don’t manage the winter. Take them into the house in a little room where it’s not to warm and then treat them as you treat all the rest of houseplants.

Remember to remove all leaves (foliage) and soft shoots from the plants before they are hidden away for the winter, doing this can help avowing decease in the plants during the winter.

It can be a good idea to spray the plants against sponge before the winter storage, an if possible this spraying must be repeated a couple of times during the winter. Use Euparen or Atamon together with water in the scale 1 part Atamon to 10 part water.