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Help and advice on this plant

amandataylor6amandataylor6 Posts: 11
in Problem solving
Hi. Can anyone help identify these plants. I think they may be fuchsia. Should I cut them back. I inherited them when I moved house last year. I don’t know if was the heat last year but it looked like this in September when I moved in. 

Posts

  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    They do look like fuchsias, as far as I can tell from just the bare branches. Have a close look and see if you can see new green growth starting. Then you can cut back to that level or further, if you like. If you can't see any growth, leave them a few weeks and check again. If you've had a colder-than-average winter it might have killed all the top growth or even completely killed them but it's early days yet.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • B3B3 Posts: 27,505
    Have you checked to see if it's alive?
    Gently scratch bark in several places . If green underneath, it's alive - brown dead but maybe only that branch.. If they are fuchsia, they can sprout from the ground if the branches are dead. Check that too.
    It's a bit of a worry that it looked like that in September.
    In London. Keen but lazy.
  • punkdocpunkdoc Posts: 15,039
    Very hard to tell, without any leaves.
    As mentioned, if they looked like that last Summer, they are dead.
    How can you lie there and think of England
    When you don't even know who's in the team

    S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    I missed the bit about them being bare in September. Maybe the drought saw them off  :(. I think I'd still give them a few more weeks before taking them out.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    I agree they are one of the last plants to show sighs of life.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • nutcutletnutcutlet Posts: 27,445
    Somebody here said 'It's not dead til it's warm and dead', leave it a while, I have plants already come back from the dead of last summer


    In the sticks near Peterborough
  • bédébédé Posts: 3,095
    edited April 2023
    They look like my fuchsia that died back through the cold.  Mine survived the summer of '22 very healthily, with only half shade and zero watering.

    Whatever they are and whatever the cause, keep cutting/scratching until you can see live stems.  When back to ground level, leave to see if they regrow from the roots.
     location: Surrey Hills, England, ex-woodland acidic sand.
    "Have nothing in your garden that you don't know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."
  • LynLyn Posts: 23,190
    They are fuchsias,  I’ve  been cutting mine back over the past week or so,  right down almost to the ground,  it will encourage them to shoot from the base,  you’ll know soon if they are alive or dead. 
    Gardening on the wild, windy west side of Dartmoor. 

  • GardenerSuzeGardenerSuze Posts: 5,692
    I think scratching the stems is a waste of time, it will come back from ground level if the root is alive.
    I have worked as a Gardener for 24 years. My latest garden is a new build garden on heavy clay.
  • JennyJJennyJ Posts: 10,576
    Most of mine are shooting now but there are a few that aren't. Maybe dead, maybe not.
    Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
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