| Which growers were specially
engaged in hybrid breeding of winter hardy fuchsias, prior to 1940?
|
| Possibly the largest number of older fuchsias are in the name
of the French grower Victor Lemoine (1823-1911), who lived in Nancy
(USDA-zone 8). In his catalogues he regularly recommends his
cultivars 'Rhombifolia', 'Drame', 'Flocon de
Neige', 'Brutus', 'Royal Purple' as winter hardy.
Out of the
collection of 115 cultivars brought on to market by English grower
Edwards Banks (1820-1910), included some who proved to be winter
hardy on our testing ground, such as 'Rose of
Castile' and 'Prince of
Orange'. | |
|
-Flocon de Neige - One of more than 400
fuchsia cultivars, from which the French nurseryman Victor Lemoine
is the grower. | |
| Clifford Gadsby (1920-1978), another English grower,
also gave us a few interesting crosses. These were also proven by us, to
be winter hardy, e.g.'Blue Bush', 'Cloverdale Pearl', 'Hathersage'
and 'Cliff's Hardy'.
Lovely examples of
winter hardies from grower James Travis include'Hawkshead' and
'Susan Travis'. |
| Which growers developed
winter hardy fuchsias since the Second World War? |
|
'Bernisser Hardy' - One of the small number of Ned-H3
hardies by a Dutch grower (Bas Weeda). This hardy has hardly
troubles with pests and diseases. Here situated on a very sunny and
warm place: the sun reflected on it by the wall and by the window
there above. | |
|
Winter
hardies of a more recent date are from Englishman W.P.Wood and
include 'Margaret', 'Peggy.King ', 'W.P. Wood ' and 'Mrs.
W.P. Wood '.
Yet we
thought it appropriate to tests some of their collection. The
cultivars 'Happy', 'Isabel Ryan', 'Grey Lady' and
'Tresco' out of the Tabraham range were up to the Ned-H3
standard.
The
following fuchThe catalogue 1987 issued by Tabraham, a commercial
grower, lists some 75 winter hardy fuchsias. The nursery is on the
Isles of Scilly (far south west of the British Isles). Because of
the favourable influences of the Gulf Stream, are there frosts
seldom an issue. Winds are such, that the nursery is protected by
garden walls and hedgessias from French plant improver René Massé,
passed our tests:'Tendrement', 'Flibustier', 'Claude Massé'
and 'Floralies de
Nantes'. | |
| In the collection of fuchsias awarded with the
Ned-H3 status are very few sourced from American growers. However we can
thank Victor Reiter for'Mephisto' and'Genii' (with its
multicoloured leaves). Both are un-American, for they do not have large
flowers.
One of the few Dutch
growers with a substantial collection of winter hardies, was De Groot
(died in 1988) from Heerde in Holland. From F.regia he crossed to
create 'Saturnus', 'Isis,' 'Komeet' and'Mercurius' as
top class plants in the Ned-H3 range. They posses a rich blossom and are
less susceptible to pests and diseases.
Another Dutch top class
plant awarded the Ned-H3 level is 'Bernisser Hardy' from Bas
Weeda. This is a crossing from F.magellanica x
F.regia. |
November 2008
