WHEN gardening friends tell me that they cannot abide pelargoniums or that they would never allow gladioli into their borders or that begonias are far too vulgar for their garden, my response is always the same: they don’t know the family well enough and I can guarantee that there is at least one plant that will soften their stone hearts.
The same goes for fuchsias. Often dismissed for having baroque flowers in gaudy colours, among the 100 or so species and the thousands of cultivars and hybrids, there are ones that will sit comfortably in any garden. If you find the more ostentatious hybrids too garish, then look to the elegance and simplicity of the species; on the other hand, if you think the modesty of the species more suited to a botanic garden, you will be overwhelmed by the range of showy, hybrid examples.
Fuchsias are mainly native to South America and include plants only a few inches tall, as well as shrubs that reach 12ft high. There is even, in the genus, a tree that grows to 30ft. The flowers consist of a group of petals that form a tube covered, in bud, by four long sepals. In most wild species, the sepals are red and the petals purple, colours said to be most attractive to the hummingbirds that pollinate the flowers. It is the peculiar structure and bicoloured aspect of the flower that breeders have exploited to develop flamboyant hybrids.
Denne historien er fra August 18, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra August 18, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
