BEAUTINE

ST VALENTINE’S Day romance is coming! In stead of giving your lover a bunch of red roses why don't you give her a plug plant – along with a card that alludes to our continued ‘fuchsia’ together. Fuchsia blooms are carried more or less continuously from summer to autumn. They are useful in bedding schemes, and some are hardy enough for hedges and permanent plantings. There are 4 choices you can find in garden centres: - Winston Churchill - Bashful - Leonora - Margaret Pilkington PRUNING HARDY OUTDOOR FUCHSIAS Over the next six weeks or so, depending on where you live and how cold your garden is, you could prune your hardy fuchsias. With secateurs, cut back stems to the lowest bud (close to the ground). Don’t damage any buds at the base of the plant. If you have a hardy fuchsia hedge, prune in the same way. If it needs rejuvenating, stagger the pruning by cutting back every other plant one year, the remainder the next. Follow all pruning with a general feed, and mulching wit