Fuchsia Madame Cornelissen

The Fuchsia 'Madame Cornelissen' is a vigorous shrubby hybrid fuchsia with an abundance of single, very contrasting bicoloured flowers; a carmine-pink tube and sepals rise above white petals veined with red from which long pink stamens protrude. A beautiful combination of colours, offering a magnificent display from late spring to autumn. It is also relatively hardy and easy to grow, wonderful in the garden or in containers.

There are countless hybrid fuchsias, derived, for the most part, from a combination of Fuchsia magellanica and Fuchsia fulgens, sometimes with a contribution from Fuchsia triphylla, adding length to the flowers which are then characterized by thin tubes and leaves with a purplish back. All these herbaceous to woody plants, more or less hardy and more or less upright or trailing, belong to the Onagraceae family, and are native to South America, the West Indies and Australia.

The Fuchsia 'Madame Cornelissen' is a creation that has enjoyed success since its introduction to the market in 1860, because of its profusion of flowers and ease of cultivation, making this plant a reliable choice. It quickly forms a generous, bushy and upright shrub, 80 to 90 cm (35.4 in) high when in flower and 40 to 60 cm (23.6 in) wide. Its flowering season extends from June to September-October. The flowers are single, medium-sized, composed of a long tube extended by 4 long and carmine-pink upturned sepals, with a corolla of wider and shorter petals, lightly veined with pink-red, nestling within the outer corolla. Long pink stamens complete the harmony of colours. The stems, initially herbaceous, become woody over the course of the season. They have abundant glossy, dark green foliage composed of narrow, deciduous leaves, opposite, entire, lanceolate and  whorled in groups of 3 or 5, 5 to 8 cm (3.1 in) long.

Usually grown as an annual, this fuchsia is a perennial that can be grown indoors, but also outdoors where frost is not too severe. Its hardiness ranges from -5°C to -10°C depending if the plant is protected in winter. Fuchsias go well with the foliage of ferns, rodgersias, orange heucheras or light green hostas. In a container, they can be grown with ivy, Dichondra Silver Falls', lobelias or the delicately flowered bacopas. Varieties with large double flowers will look best with upright varieties such as 'Price Noir' or 'Winston Churchill'.

Discovered in Santo Domingo in the 17th century and spread throughout Europe, it was named Fuchsia (not Fuschia) in honour of a German botanist named Fuchs. Native to South America, Fuchsias have gradually been multiplied and there are now said to be tens of thousands of hybrids!

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