Cape Fuchsia 'Devil's Tears'

I bought a house in Salem, OR that had been vacant for 5 years. The entire back yard was a jungle, but especially the cape fuchsia someo...Read Morene had planted as a border along an old picket fence. It had surrounded the fence on both sides, forming a low, thick, bushy hedge with about a 4 foot spread, spilling into neighboring flower beds and grass. I waited for it to bloom, to be sure of what it was, before I decided to get rid of it. The older growth was very woody and had to be dug up. The rest of it, we pulled and weed-whacked to the ground. New sprouts appeared in the same area. We pulled and weed-whacked those too. More new sprouts appeared. This summer we had the back yard completely re-done. We weed-whacked everything to the ground before the yard crew began their work. The whole area was sprayed with professional weed killer, the ground was machine tilled and raked evenly, a thin layer of soil/compost mix was spread on top, and finally new sod was laid down. Within two weeks, we noticed new cape fuchsia sprouts appearing all over the yard, in places we had never seen them before. They are even popping up from under our brand new sod! These little buggers must have spread from whatever remnants of the roots were left in the soil after it had been tilled! What a pain! We've also developed a mole problem since our yard was completed. The moles have disturbed all of our new plants, pushing up the corners of our sod, and even pushing my new pansies completely out of the ground. But they won't go near the cape fuchsia! It seems to be the only plant in the yard the moles won't disturb, and it looks happy and healthy despite the mole activity around it, and despite my best efforts to kill it.

I've grown this plant in a container outdoors year round for many years. I repot it into a larger pot about every other year. It has a ve...Read Morery long bloom season and has self sown but not to the point of being invasive.

Easy to grow in a container. Keep the roots cool, and protected a bit, don't let the soil get dry, and it will be happy and bloom right ...Read Morethrough October.

I've chosen a positive report, even though I added that this plant may be invasive. I planted this Cape Fuchsia in my Mom's garden four ...Read Moreyears ago, here in the Puget Sound region, near Seattle. Her house is near the water, so her microclimate is a bit warmer than other Pacific Northwest areas. It was planted in good, but weedy (horsetail) soil, in full morning sun, afternoon shade and had average watering. Within a year, it grew quite large (3' H X 2'W). Within two years, it was sending out a lot of sucker growth, which has to be kept in check. The planting location was also on the edge of a terraced area, with a concrete block retaining wall, and the suckers have sprouted out from between the blocks. It can be easily pruned hard to keep it in shape, however, and it flowers freely, which keeps the hummingbirds present all summer.