The first breeders
Carl Bonstedt 1866 - 1953
Born in Naumburg, Germany, Carl Bonstedt, like his father, became a gardener.
After his education at the former fruit cultivation institute in Proskau, he lived in England for a number of years, where he became acquainted with the cultivation and breeding of cut flowers, and acquired his botanical knowledge in England at Kew Gardens.
During that period he obtained a plant of the Fuchsia triphylla which was brought to Kew Gardens for identification.
After returning to Germany, he worked for eight years in the botanical garden in Rostock.
In 1900 he went to the botanical gardens of Göttingen where the then director largely gave him a free hand in designing the gardens and collecting and breeding plants.
In that period Carl Bonstedt started breeding with the
Fuchsia triphylla that he brought with him.
In 1894 the enchantingly beautiful, but sometimes difficult to keep 'Mary' (Fuchsia triphylla x Fuchsia corymbiflora) was introduced, a rich raceme-flowering plant with red flowers.
The breakthrough came in 1905 with 'Thalia' and 'Koralle', plants with beautiful orange-red flowers in rich racemes, and in 1906 with'Gartenmeister Bonstedt', all of which were introduced and marketed in 1906 by his friend
Georg Borneman in an article in Möller's Deutschen Gärten-Zeitung.
After his retirement in 1931, Carl Bonstedt continued to breed various plants.
List of Carl Bonstedt introductions
1894 – ‘Mary’ ( Fuchsia triphylla x Fuchsia corymbiflora )
1904 – ‘Fürst Otto von Stolberg’
1904 – ‘Frau Line Bonstedt’
1905 – ‘August Siebert’
1905 – ‘Jelängerjelieber’
1904 – ‘Göttingen’ ( Fuchsia fulgens x Fuchsia triphylla )
1904 – ‘Koralle’ ( Fuchsia fulgens x Fuchsia triphylla )
1905 – ‘Traudchen Bonstedt’ ( Fuchsia fulgens x Fuchsia triphylla )
1905 – ‘Thalia’ ( Fuchsia triphylla x onbekend )
1906 – ‘Clio’
1906 – ‘Eros’
1906 – ‘Gartenmeister Bonstedt’ ( Fuchsia triphylla x Fuchsia fulgens )
1907 – ‘Perle’
1914 – ‘Winterkönigin’
1915 – ‘Borneman’s Beste’ ( Fuchsia triphylla x onbekend)
1915 – ‘Puck’
1915 – ‘Irmgard Bonstedt’
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Victor Lemoine
1823-1911
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In 1895, this plant emerged from the cross
Fuchsia triphylla x Fuchsia corymbiflora, which is the same crossing of 'Mary', an 1894 Carl Bonstedt breeding.
Fuchsia corymbiflora
Born in Delme on the Moselle River, Victor Lemoine was a celebrated and prolific French flower grower descended from a long line of gardeners and nurseries.
After his studies, he devoted several years to traveling and working in the leading horticultural companies of his time, most notably with Louis van Houtte in Ghent, Belgium.
In 1850, Lemoine established himself as a florist and gardener in
Nancy, France.
It was around the same time that Lemoine focused on fuchsias and introduced many varieties including the double-flowered hybrid Solferino and one with a Fuchsia triphylla lineage, the 'Triphylla Hybrida'.
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Other breeders until 1959
In 1900, Hr. Gireoud from Germany 'Fürst Otto zu Wernigerode'.
This triphylla cultivar was obtained from the cross
Fuchsia triphylla x 'Surprise' and was named after the patron of garden art in Wernigerode. In a short time this Fuchsia became very popular.
The plant blooms very richly with soft pink-red colors and forms a rich raceme that bends the branches due to its weight of flowers.
‘Fürst Otto zu Wernigerode’
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Four years later, Mr. Rottengen, also from Germany, 'Christmas Gem' on the market, won from the cross
Fuchsia triphylla x Fuchsia serratifolia
‘Christmas Gem’
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In 1948, Victor Reiter Jr. from America with 'Mantilla' won from
Fuchsia triphylla x 'San Francisco'.
This cultivar was also the first Fuchsia to be registered with the American Fuchsia Society.
The cultivar is still very popular with enthusiasts and is still widely available in the Fuchsia nurseries.
‘Mantilla’
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As the last breeder of the 'old' guard, Hr. T. Thorne from Great Britain with 'Bernard Rawlings', a cultivar obtained from the crossing of Fuchsia triphylla with a unfortunately unknown pollen giver.
‘Traudchen Bonstedt’