Grow a Flowering Fuchsia Plant for Hummingbirds

Updated: Feb. 29, 2024

A fuchsia plant is a beautiful summer bloomer. It makes an excellent container plant and is well-known for attracting hummingbirds.

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Fuchsia Plant Care and Growing Tips

247692422 1 Tanmoy Ganguly Bnbhc20 — Male ruby-throated hummingbird hovering at a fuchsia plant

Scientific name: Fuchsia spp.
Common names: Fuchsia, lady’s eardrops, hardy fuchsia, hummingbird fuchsia
Light needs: Shade to Part Shade
Hardiness zones: 10 to 11 or annual
Size: 10 to 24 inches tall
Benefits: Attracts hummingbirds, birds, butterflies and moths

Fuchsias are summer flowering plants with colorful, pendulous blossoms. Hummingbirds are attracted to the flowers’ bright colors. Their long tongues have adapted to access the high amount of nectar.

Fuchsias are perennial plants in zones 10 and 11, but most are not winter hardy so you can treat them as annuals or overwinter them as houseplants. Many have a trailing habit, perfect for hanging baskets and containers. The upright forms can be trained as standards (tree or lollipop shape) or as small shrubs.

Although there are a few with variegated foliage, most plants have 2- to 4-inch long, green, oval shaped leaves. The plant blooms from summer to frost and the blossoms appear in pairs on 1- to 2-inch thin stems.

Blossoms can be narrow and tubular like trumpets or ornate like a lady’s earring. The ornate ones have reflexing sepals (the outermost part), a bell-shaped corolla (the petals), protruding long stamens, and a very long pistil. Often, the arching sepals are a different color than the bell-shaped corolla.

A ruby-throated hummingbird hovers in front of a hanging basket full of fuchsias. — Hanging basket full of blooming fuchsia flowers

There is a wide range of flower colors—red, pink, purple, orange, magenta, salmon, white—and color combinations. There also are double flowered types, creating a ruffled appearance.

The plants prefer moist, well-drained soil, high in organic matter. They tolerate shade well. To encourage continuous blooms, fertilize with one that is especially formulated for blooms.

Fuchsia Plant Problems

anna's hummingbird — An Anna’s hummingbird visits a flowering fuchsia plant in the Pacific Northwest

Most fuchsias are not winter hardy, but they are not heat lovers either. They thrive in cool summers with day temperatures of 60 to 70 degrees, dropping 10 degrees at night. They do very well in the Pacific Northwest but in areas with hot summers, they will stop flowering when temperatures climb above 70 degrees. It is unlikely the plants will die, but no flowers means no hummingbirds. Gardeners who live in hot areas should purchase heat tolerant varieties and place their plants in the shade.

Learn how you can help hummingbirds in extremely hot weather.

Propagating Fuchsia Plants

Fuchsias can be propagated by softwood cuttings. In early summer, take a 6-inch stem cutting, remove the lower leaves, and dip the cut end in a rooting hormone. Place in small, 4-inch plastic container with drainage holes. Moisten the potting mix and cover with a plastic bag. Place in the shade, in a warm spot. The cutting should take about a month to root.

Learn how to attract hummingbirds to a small garden.

Overwintering Fuchsia

To overwinter plants, bring them in before frost, trim down to 6 inches. and place in a cool, dark area. They will become dormant, drop their leaves, and require no water (unless completely dry). In the spring, move to a warm, bright area in the house and resume watering. After frost has past, move the plants outside and repot with fresh potting mix.

Check out the top 10 annuals that attract hummingbirds.

Recommended Fuchsia Varieties

shadow dancer rosella fuchsia plant — Shadow Dancers Rosella fuchsia plant

For heat tolerance, try hybrids with F. triphylla parentage such as “Billy Green” (slender tubular pink flowers) and “Gartenmeister Bonstedt” (slender tubular orange flowers with bronze-green foliage and red-purple veins). Also, check out Suntory Flowers’ Angel Earrings series, which were specifically bred for heat tolerance.

Although most fuchsias are hardy to zones 10 and 11, there is one species hardy to zones 6 and 7. Hardy fuchsia, F. magellanica, has long tubular blossoms in shades of purple and pink and can be grown as a deciduous shrub. When shopping for cold hardy fuchsias, look for hybrids with F. magellanica parentage such as “Riccartonii” (purple and red blossoms).

For variegated foliage, try “Gartenmeister Bonstedt” mentioned above, or “Firecracker” (variegated cream and green with purple veins), or “Autumnale” (yellow to coppery orange foliage).

For small containers, check out Proven Winners’ line of compact plants called Shadow Dancers: Betty, Yolanda, Rosella, and Violette. These upright plants grow to 8 to 12 inches tall.

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Originally Published: January 30, 2024