The variety of plants and flowers available today under the generalised heading of FUCHSIA is quite remarkable. This is one of the factors that has caused me to take an interest in them over many years and, now that I have a larger garden space plus a greenhouse, to grow anything up to fifty different cultivars in a season.

Some are sufficiently hardy top be left out in the garden all year round; these hardy fuchsias are grown sometimes as free-standing bushes but also often are used to make great decorative hedges. Other varieties need moderate protection during the colder months (I use an insulated but unheated cold-frame), whilst yet others need to be kept in a warm environment if they're to stand much chance of recovering in the Spring.

Fuchsia flowers range from miniscule up to two inches or more across. The majority hang downwards on their pedicels, but some look up brightly to the sky. "Single" flowers have only four petals in the corolla, whereas "doubles" have eight or more and are often quite flamboyant with their ruffles and flares; in between are "semi-doubles". On some varieties the sepals more or les drape down around the corolla; in others they flare out at right angles or swirl back upwards, even in some cases folding back near vertically against the tube, almost covering it.

Sepals and tube are often coloured to contrast with the corolla; and sometimes there is even a marked difference between tube and sepals. Lighter colours are often veined, and a white petal with red veins can be very attractive, whilst some are all-white - tube, sepals and petals. True blue fuchsias are rare, and true blacks non-existent (yet!) but very dark purples come near to black in certain lights. Oranges can be very striking.

Some flowers are squat, with short tubes. There are also flowers with long tubes followed by elaborate flowers and others, of the triphylla variety, with very long tubes and almost no petals or sepals to speak of at all. Again, the dimensions of the stamens, and the stigma and style (the flower's sexual organs) vary widely from one cultivar to another. Some are quite stubby and reserved, demurely almost hidden within the corolla; others are boldly presented, flaring outwards in bright colouring.

Leaves range from light to dark greens, with a few varieties golden and yet others heavily veined in red. Some are smooth edged, others heavily serrated. Some are very small, whilst others can be over two inches long.

Branches rise from stems at different angles and with varying degrees of woodiness. There are cultivars which grow stiffly upright and others which loosely flop over the sides of the container in which they are grown to give the well-known trailing fuchsias popular for use in baskets. Some branch willingly; whilst others have to be snipped at the growing tip to encourage branches then to spring out from lower down the stem and bush out the plant. As to size, there are varieties which grow no more than around a foot tall whilst others will easily make a bush of five or six feet in a season.

I could go on, but by now I hope I've given some indication of the variety covered by the word, fuchsia. Growing them is a fascinating hobby. You never know what you're going to find next.