Miniature fuchsia - a tiny show stopper

Saturday, 17th of June 2023 [72]

Hey hivers! Did you know that @gardenhive started a new, creative challenge last month? It’s a short posting window for this one - only 3 -4 days since the post creation to participate and 2 prompts each month to choose from.

You can write about either or both and this month the prompts are:

Image above is a screenshot from this post by #HiveGarden community. Check it out for all the guideliness, while remebering that #creativegarden has to be your first tag in your entry article.

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While writing about both prompts is totally possible, I find myself a little less creative than usual, so I’ll stick with one and that will be the tiniest thing in my garden that brings me the greatest joy, which is a miniature fuchsia plant that I once purchased at local orchid society meeting out of all places.

I scrolled and scrolled both of my lhone galleries in search of the picture of it when I first putchased it, but it looks like I never took it.

The first picture of it that I found in my ols phone was from February 2019 after it was already planted.

I placed my finger next to it, so show just how tiny this plant is.

And as a comparison, here is the same plant in November 2020. It grew quite a lot, hey? I took a few pictures that day as I was trying different filters I guess.

The reason why I purchased this plant, even though it wasn’t an orchid, was because it is a miniature. I love full size fuchsias. They’re super cheerfull plants, growing in all shades of pink, purple, red and white, with a huge abundance of blooms showing up in summer.

Not sure why, but I never saw any of them in Poland. When I arrived in UK in 2005 though, it was the first blooming bush I noticed and promised myself to buy when I finally have my own garden.

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Like I said, so I did and I have at least 5 different fuchsias growing in my own garden, but this little cutie is very special and close to my heart.

Firstly because it’s so tiny. I really have a soft spot for tiny things. Imagine trying to sculpture such a tiny flower to such perfection. It seems almost impossible. Yet momma nature makes everything possible and it doesn’t matter the size - everything she creates is a pure perfection.

Another thing I find special about this plant is that it blooms and blooms, despite all weather conditions. If you noticed the first pictures were taken in November and February. The times of the year when not much else is in bloom.

When I was purchasing it from an orchid grower that time, he said it was a hardy fuchsia. Not every type of fuchsia is hardy. Some die back in winter and never come back. Others die back and come back in spring, with the peak of bloom in late summer and well into the fall.

This one is different. Not only is it hardy, but it also blooms pretty much all year round. I say pretty much, because this year it was a little different. We had much lower temps this winter and they extended well into the spring. My tiny fuchsia stopped flowering at some point and turned into a big, dry bush.

I was a bit worried that it won’t make it this year, but to my happiness eventually it showed up some new growth when the weather improved.

Those dry branches did get me worried though!

So today I thought it was a perfect time to remove them and capture that new growth.

I’m not sure if you can see on the picture, as the masses of tiny leaves seem to all blend into one, but next to the bigger plant on the left, there is a second, tiny plant on the right.

I haven’t planted the second one, but as it was growing in size over the years, I sometimes didn’t get around to removing the lower branches and they grew so close to the ground that a natural propagation by layering occured, gifting me this second plant.

I remember that when it grew quite big I got curious about propagation and took a few cuttings in hope to sell them on at some point. In the end I never got round to do it. I took some cuttings and they grew well, but in the super sunny and dry summers we experienced last couple years, all plants in tiny pots were the first victims.

I am therefore super grateful that it managed to propagate itself on its own and hopefully this year I will make another attempt at propagating it, so I can share it with my friends.

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I mean… who wouldn’t love to have such a cheerful little plant in their garden?

It takes little space yet it gives so much joy!

There is one more tiny thing that brings me lots of joy in my garden and that is a tiny type of strawberry called poziomka in Polish.

I know I bragged about them before, but they’re simply the best. In tiny fruit they hide and incredble sweetnes coupled with a sour tinge and a very distinctive taste unlike any other strawberries.

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Just something sweet to end my today’s article ☺️

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Before I go… let me encourage all hive gardeners to visit LeoFinance #threads and share your pictures of your gardens or plants you encounter during the walks. You can also ask garden related questions with a #hivegarden tag. Let’s make thread a greener place together 🌱

And make sure to vote for gardener of the week here

Until next time 💙

Camera:	iPhone7, iPhone11
Photographer:	@fantagira