Fuchsia Soila (Bella Series)

Fuchsia × hybrida Bella Fuchsia® Soila is a highly floriferous horticultural variety, notable for its compact and stocky habit, making it ideal for creating beautiful pot displays and hanging baskets. The plant grows quickly to form a clump as wide as it is tall, trailing gracefully on all sides. The small, elliptical to lanceolate leaves are a fairly dark, healthy-looking green. The flowering is particularly long and abundant, covering the whole summer and into autumn. The plant is covered in superb bicoloured flowers, purple and almost red-pink. Easy to grow in not too intense sun or in partial shade, it appreciates a fertile, moist, and light soil. Except in the mildest climates, this Fuchsia will need to be overwintered under cover, or otherwise grown as an annual.

Fuchsia belongs to the Onagraceae family, which includes about twenty other genera, among them evening primroses (or Oenothera, from which the family name derives) and Gauras, both highly valued for their long summer flowering periods. There are about a hundred species of Fuchsias, named in honour of the German botanist Fuchs, the vast majority of which are not frost-hardy. Nevertheless, Fuchsia magellanica shows good hardiness (down to -15°C) and has served as a parent for many hybrids available on the market, which consequently may show tolerance to light frosts.
This is the case with Bella Soila, a hybrid from the Bella Fuchsia® series horticultural range obtained by cross-breeding (hence the x in its name) between two (or more) other varieties. It can withstand brief frosts of around -4°C, useful for outdoor cultivation early in the season in case of a late spring frost, or planting out in the ground in the mildest areas. It grows fairly rapidly in all directions to form a clump 30 to 45 cm tall and wide. The stems bear small, opposite leaves, measuring 2 to 3 cm long and 1 cm wide, with an epidermis which is a darker green than most horticultural varieties. They are elliptical to lanceolate in shape with a slightly glossy surface, very ornamental. Around May-June, depending on the climate, the striking single flowers appear. The greenish flower buds quickly turn purple, eventually opening to reveal a calyx formed of four sepals. Viewed from above, these show a concave curve with a pointed tip. Their colour is a very bright, almost red-pink, which immediately catches the eye. At the centre of the calyx, the corolla unfolds, consisting of four petals of a superb purplish violet. The anthers (tips of the stamens) are also purple, protruding from the cup-shaped, closed corolla, while a long purplish-pink pistil emerges from it. Flowering continues until October, especially if care is taken to remove faded flowers, and to water regularly, occasionally adding a liquid fertiliser high in potassium to the water.

Fuchsia Bella Soila is a superb plant for pots or hanging baskets that will flower relentlessly throughout the summer season. Its herbaceous stems, whose base gradually becomes woody, only withstand brief frosts, which in the vast majority of regions will mean overwintering the plant under cover. One can also choose to grow it as an annual in a border alongside other summer beauties that share the same needs. Impatiens will be perfect companions, particularly the very beautiful double variety Impatiens walleriana double Glimmer Appleblossom, whose pale pink flowers have the grace of roses. A Lobelia erinus White Lady, which you can sow at the start of the season, will accompany your scene with its white flowers, as will plants of Bacopa with its countless small flowers.