Ned-H3_Chapter

The fuchsia lover without a place to house his fuchsias during the winter season can suopplement his collection with non-hardy cultivars. In this way he does possess all the forms and shapes, including 'standards' and 'trailers'. He will thus not be distinguishable from the lucky person with a frost free storage facility. For the few non-hardy stemmed 'standards' and 'trailers', you should be able to find some space inside the house. Think of the attic or underneath the house.

The winter hardies will cause little work and will not cause the expense of pots or potting mixture.

The choice of the many colourful and long flowering fuchsias gives the professional as well as the home gardener plenty of choice. There are about 110 Ned-H3 cultivars to choose from. No longer do you have to rely on the common garden fuchsias, such as F.magellanica 'Riccartonii' or F. magellanica gracilis. Ned-H3 winter hardy fuchsias are tested in USDA-zone 7.

In the Ned-H3 collection contains a large number of varieties. All will be appreciated by the home gardener. The many shapes, the rich and colourful blossom will be appealing to the eye. There is a large choice for specific uses, such as free-standing, a low hedge or for use as a complete plot.

To trial fuchsias in a testing ground can take many years of effort. During the trials in Velp, from the spring of 1986 till the fall of 1995 we had two good winters. A good winter is one where the Standard for 'Quality winter A' and 'Quality winter B' is fully met. The winter of 1993/1994 met the Standard reasonably well. Had the trials been continued beyond 1995, no further cultivars could have been added to the range of Ned-H3. All the winters had been too mild. In fact the last three years belonged to the warmest winters of the last century. Here are some facts and figures for the winter of 1999/2000): 'frost days' 26; 'ice days' 0; average temperature for the three winter monthes 5°C; but with a rainfall of 280 mm was this the seventh wettest winter.

The quality of the winters in USDA-zone 8 or 9 (Great Britain or France) would seldom if ever meet the Standard for 'Quality winter A' or 'Quality winter B' A continuing trial would be necessary to test for winter hardiness in USDA-zone 7. For example Germany, Switzerland or Austria could be used. The trials could be performed under auspices of Eurofuchsia. For these trials the supposedly winter hardies from the earlier French and English trials could form the basis.

Werkgroepleden 30 kB.jpg (29786 bytes)

UTC-working group 'Beproeving fuchsia's op winterhardheid'

From left to right: sitting - Zwier Stoel, Pieter v.d.Veer; standing - Gerrit van Veen, Johan van Aalst, Hans van Aspert and the owner of the the testing ground (and our adviser) Gerard Buurman.