Fuchsia Royal Mosaic

The Fuchsia 'Royal Mosaic' offers absolutely spectacular flowering. This wonderful trailing variety is adorned with voluptuous bicolored bells, at least 10 cm (3.9 in) wide, with tube and petals of pale pink crowning a double and frilled corolla made up of numerous pale blue-violet petals splashed with pale pink. They bloom from the end of spring through to the end of summer. A stunning variety with generous cascades of flowers, perfect in hanging baskets. Easy to grow in partial shade, in fertile, moist and light soil.

Hybrid Fuchsias are countless, and mostly derived from Fuchsia magellanica and Fuchsia fulgens, sometimes with the contribution of Fuchsia triphylla which brings length to the flowers, which are then characterised by thin tubes and violet-backed leaves. These herbaceous to woody plants - which can be more or less hardy and more or less upright or trailing - belong to the Onagraceae family, and are native to South America, the Caribbean and Australia.

The Fuchsia 'Royal Mosaic' belongs to a series called 'Giant' whose plants are selected for their enormous frilled flowers and their excellent floriferousness even in shaded areas. 'Royal Mosaic' quickly forms a generous bushy plant with a spreading and trailing habit, reaching a height of 30 to 40 cm (15.7 in) when in bloom, and of at least the same width. Its flowering period extends from June to September-October. It is distinguished by large fluffy flowers whose weight gracefully bends the stems, transforming the plant into a cascade of blooms. They are composed of a tube extended by four long, coiled pale pink sepals, and a corolla of wider and shorter petals, doubled, curiously variegated with violet and pale pink and embedded in the outer corolla of sepals. Short pink stamens complete the color harmony. The stems, initially herbaceous and red, become somewhat woody as the season progresses. They bear abundant foliage composed of deciduous, opposite, whorled leaves, 5 to 8 cm (3.1 in) long, lanceolate. Their color is a fairly dark and shiny green. Its hardiness does not exceed -5°C in open ground.

Usually grown as an annual, this Fuchsia is a perennial that can be grown indoors, in a large pot that will be brought indoors in winter to protect it from frost, but also in open ground for a season, or even longer in mild climates. Fuchsias go well with the foliage of ferns, rodgersias, orange heucheras or light green hostas. In a flower pot they can be accompanied, for example, by ivy, dichondra Silver Falls, lobelias or bacopas with very delicate flowers. Varieties with large double flowers will be enhanced by upright varieties such as 'Prince Noir' or 'Winston Churchill', and by the foliage of ivy.

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