Fuchsia Princess Dollar

Fuchsia 'Princess Dollar' has the appearance of a small, bushy and dense shrub adorned with deciduous dark green foliage, which is adorned for a very long period with pretty tousled bicoloured flowers. They are modest in size, but well double, and brightly colored, combining a tube and external sepals in cherry pink with a plump corolla in violet to burgundy. Its sturdy stems carry them without fail. This variety is reliable and resistant to bad weather. It tolerates cold well and proves easy to grow in partial shade, in the ground or in a potted flower.

Hybrid Fuchsias are countless, and for the most part derived from Fuchsia magellanica and Fuchsia fulgens, sometimes with the contribution of Fuchsia triphylla, which brings length to the flowers, which are then characterized by thin tubes and violet-reversed leaves. All these herbaceous to woody plants, more or less hardy and more or less erect or trailing, belong to the evening primrose family, and are native to South America, the Caribbean and Australia.

Fuchsia 'Princess Dollar' is a 'hardy' variety, which means that the above-ground parts of the plant will be destroyed by frost, but it will regrow from the stump with good winter protection. It quickly forms a generous, bushy and upright bush, 40 to 60cm (16 to 24in) high when flowering and 30 to 4 cm (12 to 16in) wide. Its flowering period extends from May to September-October. Its flowers are double, composed of a long tube extended by 4 long and upturned sepals, very bright cherry pink, and a double corolla of wider and shorter petals, purple-violet, embedded in the outer corolla. Long pink stamens complete the harmony of colours. The stems, initially herbaceous, become woody over the season. They bear abundant foliage composed of narrow, deciduous leaves, opposite, whorled in 3 or 5, entire, 5 to 8cm (2 to 3in) long, lanceolate. Their colour is a glossy dark green.

Often grown as an annual, this Fuchsia is a perennial that can be grown indoors, but also in the ground where severe frosts are not too frequent. Its preferred climate is the one that prevails in Britain. Its hardiness varies from -5°C (23°F) (without protection) to -10°C (14°F) when the plant is properly sheltered in winter. Fuchsias go well with the foliage of ferns, Rodgersias, orange Heucheras or light green hostas. In a potted flower arrangement, they can be accompanied, for example, by ivy, 'Silver Falls' Dichondra, lobelias or Bacopas with very delicate flowers. Large double-flowered varieties will be well highlighted by upright varieties such as 'Price Noir' or 'Winston Churchill'.

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