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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