Garden Trends

I have taken some cuttings from some of my fuchsia plants (some are still flowering and it’s mid-November!). I said I would post as I go on how the cuttings are turning out. So-far things are looking quite positive. I have a few cuttings in glass jars and have put them on the window sill to get the most light. I have had to top up the water just once so far and have cut off the new leaves or buds once but need to do it again. As you can see in the picture the roots are forming and look promising– hopefully this trend continues!

We have been extremely blessed with our extra summer we’ve been having here on the West Coast.  For the most part the rain has held off and it has been great for us and the flowers.  Many flowers are still blooming including the Fuchsia I have. The forecast will be changing though and with that one wonders what to do with their Fuchsia’s.  You can still enjoy them for a little bit longer but just watch for frost.  You can winter them over in pots by cutting them down to approximately 6 inches above the soil.  Evidently the seed pods themselves are not necessarily that successful so if you are looking to increase the amount of Fuchsia’s you have next year the best thing is to take cuttings of them. In a forum at

http://www.gardenbanter.co.uk/showthread.php?t=83787

Kathleen Syson says to put the cuttings in a cup of water, topping up but not replacing the water until there are a bunch of roots and then pot them up in compost.  She puts them on a window ledge or in her shed.  I plan on trying that this year and I’ll take some pictures of it them hopefully growing roots and coming around next year *fingers crossed*. Click on the above link to see a discussion on using clippings and seed pods. Happy Gardening!

Just to update what we have in the shade containers. The hosta is coming back which is quite exciting… it survived winter! We also have an astilbe (often searched for as misspelled astibule) and although the hosta is suppose to get bigger (hence the bigger container) the astilbe seems to be thriving and could almost use a larger home… we’ll see how things go though. Here are a couple pictures.