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June

Climate

From late May toward the beginning of June, late bloomers come into flower.
In mid-June, non-heat resistant magellanica types begin to wilt in the daytime.

June is the month to decide which fuchsias to keep or discard.

Factors affecting my decision are:
  • Quality of flowers, foliage, and growth (personal preference)
  • Heat-tolerance
  • Flowering period: Fuchsias which bloom early in the season and bloom again in autumn are more preferable.

Fuchsias in June

Bornemann's Beste (June 6)
It comes into flower at the end of May.

It's relatively early-flowering for a triphylla hybrids (12 cm dia. pot, second year plant).
Clair de Lune (June 10)
Although hard to shape, it is heat-resistant and always survive our harsh summer (15 cm dia pot, third year plant).

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Other fuchsias coming in flower are Billy Green, F. fulgens, Pussy Cat, Gartenmeister Bonstedt, and Whiteknight Cheeky.

Cuttings taken in April can be potted up now.
The photo on the right is failed F. fulgens.
It's better for this species to be propagated in autumn using more hardened cuttings.
The photo is a successful cutting of Bornemann's Beste. You can pot it up now.

Note: If you open an enclosed propagator, and the softwood cuttings in it wilt, close the lid again and put the propagator in the refrigerator and wait a few hours. This can help the cuttings to recover.

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Preparing older plants for summer

To help your older (2-year or older) plants survive a hot summer, you can repot them using fresh compost before a heat spell. This ensures good drainage and helps to prevent root rot during the summer.

Explained below is how I do it. It is recommended to repot while day highs are still below 25oC.
The photo shows Vincent van Gogh grown in a 21 cm dia hanging pot (June 10).

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First, the plant should be pruned to help handling. Then the root ball can be taken out and washed by water in a bucket.

As you see, the root condition is not good. A lot of damaged rootlets fell off.
Now the plant is repotted using fresh, extremely well-drained compost into a smaller pot (15 cm dia. in this case).

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Pruning back

Toward the end of June, the day high temperature approaches 30oC. The night temperature drops to no lower than 22oC.

Fuchsia have to be kept as cool as possible. To do so, I place my fuchsias to the coolest spot at my home, which varies depending on the time of the day.

At the end of the month, I prune back my fuchsias to help them survive a summer.
Angel's Earrings (June 20)
The photo shows the fuchsias to be pruned:

Left: Pink Opal
Right: Dual Pearl
Pruned Pink Opal and Dual Pearl.
I'm going to test how heat-resistant they are and report the results in later months.

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On June 26, the maximum temperature reached 30oC.

Fuchsias have to be kept indoors during daytime.

It's about time to close spring/summer fuchsia season.

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Tip/s I keep in mind is/are to:
  • Choose as cool a day as possible to pot up cuttings which have just rooted.
  • Use well-drained compost when repotting fuchsias for summer rest because fuchsias can't take up as much water as in spring.
Term/s:
  • AmeDAS - Automatic Meteorological Data Acquisition System installed by the Japan Meteorological Agency. A total of 13,000 AmeDASs are installed across Japan (as of January 2007). The measurement data are accessible via the Internet.
(June 28, 2007)

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Month
The fuchsia year shows year-round care of my fuchsias, from Dec. 2006 through to Nov. 2007 as an example.
The original articles were written in Japanese language for fuchsia growers in Japan.

Temperature averages in June 2007:
Daily high:27.9oC
Daily low:19.2oC
(Data by Nearest AmeDAS)
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