Fuchsias: The Complete Guide [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

Edwin Goulding (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1995

This comprehensive book encompasses every aspect of fuchsia growing, from the basics to hybridizing. It provides descriptions of species and cultivars, including the new scented fuchsias, advice on the best selections for beds and baskets, and information on cultivation, pruning, and propagation.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Goulding's encyclopedic book starts with a history of this popular plant and continues with chapters on propagation, soils, fertilizers, potting procedures, greenhouses and environmental controls, shaping and pruning, bedding, exhibiting, pests and diseases, and hybridizing. Goulding discusses fuchsias with ornamental foliage, white-flowered and terminal-flowering fuchsias, and what he calls novelty types. A chapter on growing fuchsias in baskets and other containers is followed by one that offers a month-by-month calendar of care. Included is a descriptive list of all known species in alphabetical order. This comprehensive guide is to be heavily illustrated. George Cohen

Review

Fuchsias have a flowering season that is longer than most other plants and they are very easy to grow. Fuchsias: The Complete Guide encompasses every aspect of fuchsia growing, detailing key players and events in fuchsia history and documentation of species and cultivars with full descriptions and photographs. Advice on the best selection is coupled with information on how to grow and care for the plants, along with detailed coverage of propagation, growing media, pests, and disease. The section on hybridizing, with its strong emphasis on international hybridizers and new trends, provides very recent information (some of the plants were never previously illustrated or discussed) including the new scented fuchsias mentioned by name. Fuchsias: The Complete Guide is a exciting recommendation, a veritable "must read" for the beginner and will be of considerable value for even the most experienced gardener. -- Midwest Book Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Timber Press, Incorporated (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0881923281
• ISBN-13: 978-0881923285
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 7.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,551,030 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Useful but could have stood professional editing, July 3, 2007

By 

Atash (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Fuchsias: The Complete Guide (Hardcover)

The book is one of the few complete Fuchsia references left (at least, in English--there are a few more in German and sometimes these are sold in English-language markets for lack of other options).

The sections on how to achieve various goals are a bit long on prose and short on procedure.

The section on pests and diseases seems backwards--the section headings are the names of the diseases--the expectation seems to be that you already know the disease and then read about the life-cycle of the agent that causes it! My experience advising neophyte Fuchsia growers is that they tell me the symptoms and expect me to determine the disease and what to do about it. It really should have been a symptomatic approach. This section too is long on prose and short on procedure--there is a lengthy discussion of spider mites including speculation on why some of them turn red, but not much about what to do about them. There is a section on spider mite predators but no clear instructions on how to use them (assuming that's the point of that section).

There are other oddities in the way information is organized. There is a brief section on scented Fuchsias derived from Fuchsia paniculata--naturally these exist in the chapter on Encycliandras (sarcasm--F. paniculata is not an Encycliandra--but if I didn't know better, reading that chapter I'd think it were). The section on Encycliandras briefly discusses breeding them but only barely mentions, in a caption, what is significant and different about them. If I didn't already know what they are, the section on Encycliandras would just be confusing to me.

Possibly the most useful and best-written section is the guide to Fuchsia species near the end of the book. There are also some photographs of some of the species including several rare in cultivation. The book also does cover some sections of the genus Fuchsia, and their hybrids, that are rarely discussed in other Fuchsia references.