Goodness, I killed it!

[JulieSherris]

When we moved in here, we had a very large fuchsia bush in the front on the corner of the cottage - standing proudly over 6ft tall, it was a huge bushy plant, with flowers in abundance. Gorgeous.

So... I pruned it this year & lopped most of it back to about 5 ft, more to keep it under control & so that we could walk on the path rather than circumnavigate the grass around it.... and I've killed it, I think.
Everything else is throwing out nice green shoots & leaves, but this fuchsia is just.... well a huge bunch of dry sticks.
The variety is a hardy hedging type & is grown in the wild hedges along a lot of our lanes - maybe I'm just being a tad impatient, but I can't see any new growth anywhere on the plant & some of the main stems are very woody and just snap - no green sticks that I've found so far.

Any suggestions?

[Millymollymandy]

It's possible it was killed by the cold in winter rather than you pruning it. I've lost a couple of things that are borderline.

[crowsashes]

i gave mine a good prune in the autumn and it hasnt come back :-( im putting it down to 'old age' as the plant was huge and taking over.

usually new growth from fuschia comes from the base ( well mine in the front do ) i prune them heavily , to keep them nice and compact.

mine has only just started producing new growth too ( the small one out front not the big one) so you might just be a bit impatient :-)

[JulieSherris]

Ugh... I shall give it another month & see what occurs... if it really is dead, then I guess a couple of days battling with the spade & roots.... then I might try replacing it with a ceanothus - which I absolutely love, but have resisted buying & planting since we've been here... then again, I might go the whole hog & invest in a large buddleja....

[Odsox]

If that was a bog standard wild fuchsia Julie, it should not only be showing signs of growth .. it should be flowering by now.
I thought it was impossible to kill a wild fuchsia as the more I cut mine back, the stronger they retaliate no matter what time of the year I do it.
The roadside ones (used to) get cut back to ground level by the council with their graunching hedge cutting machine, only to shoot and flower within weeks.
So I guess you should be proud of yourself.

[Green Aura]

And to continue my famed non-sequiturs - did you know you can make jam from fuschia?

[Odsox]

And to continue my famed non-sequiturs - did you know you can make jam from fuschia?

Yes I did, and not only that I've actually made some.
Not the tastiest of jam though and the raw fruit is a bit insipid too, so although it was an interesting venture I don't think I'll repeat it.

[Green Aura]

That's a shame - I'd actually thought about buying a fuschia to add a bit of colour to my garden - we're not big on flowers. Maybe it'd be good to make up quantities where you're short of something else?

(If you fancy sending me a few cuttings of wild fuschia Tony I'd be very grateful)

[Cloud]

Sorry for stepping over your non-sequiturs, Green Aura, but jut wanted to mention that we lost our ceanothus 'tree' this years. Probably frost, but I did prune it in the autumn, and this will be the second ceanothus lost just after I pruned it (they get too big, something needs to be done). Maybe pruning make it more vulnerable to frost.

[JulieSherris]

The roadside ones (used to) get cut back to ground level by the council with their graunching hedge cutting machine, only to shoot and flower within weeks.
So I guess you should be proud of yourself.

Ugh.... Tony, I'm mortified! Yep, it was one of the roadside types - it looked SO pretty on the corner as well, but now it's gone I guess. I looked all over it yesterday & there's absolutely nothing on it.
Saying that, the 2 other smaller fuchsias that I had have also died, but I put that down to the wet & cold & the fact that they were just small plants, I never expected the huge thing to die as well!

OK.... suggestions for a replacement then, anyone?

[Odsox]

I would suggest a Myrtle, not the common wild one but the edible fruiting one Myrtus Ugni
It fruits continuously from about October till January and tastes wonderful, and it's a bush that only grows about 3 feet tall.
Google it for more info, or see my post .. http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/ ... 22&t=12847

[Millymollymandy]

Ceanothus aren't very hardy which I why, much as I love them, I've never bought one. I lost my young penstemon which I'd grown from seed 2 years before but I knew that wasn't a very hardy plant and also a hebe. How cold did it get last winter where you are Julie?

[JulieSherris]

Hmmm. I think we got down to about -11 MMM, but I'd have to ask the husband & seeing as how I'm not talking to him at the moment & peace talks are nowhere near imminent, that's out of the question.

Anyways...... I have just spent an hour with the hacksaw, most branches simply snapping off & took this lot off to leave the stumpy bits 2 to 3 ft.... there was I thinking how on earth I was going to be able to get the roots up....



When I start clearing the ground elder at the base & find this.....



So what now?
Do I carry on & take it out, taking as many cuttings & shoots off as I can?
Do I leave it from here & see what occurs?
Do I try & take some more dead wood off?

Blimey!

[crowsashes]

id trim the dead wood back a bit more then see what happens, you might have just done the plant a huge favour by removing all that growth. it will probably grow back quite well

[Odsox]

There you are .... I told you it was almost impossible to kill !!