Interesting to know for the fuchsia lover, but also for the fuchsia hybridizer who introduced the cultivar.

If you see a large, well-groomed fuchsia cultivar on a show or open day, for example a 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt' of more than one meter high, that is of course an eye-catcher and the question is quickly asked how old the plant is. The owner then proudly says that the plant is 10 years old.

You take that knowledge almost automatically.

Of course it is ten years ago that the proud owner has rooted or hybridized a 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt' cuttings and afterwards lovingly cared the plant for years. But after all, the truth lies elsewhere. And if you then tell me that his 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt' is now more than 100 years old then you will be looked at incredulously.

What more than a hundred years old?

But back to our 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt' which turns out to be more than a hundred years old instead of 10 years.

In 1905 Carl Bonstedt introduced the cultivar 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt' a cross between F. triphylla and

F. fulgens.

He increased this plant by taking cuttings from it. This is called vegative propagation. From these pieces that were taken from the original plant, pieces were taken again and again for more than a hundred years.

A cutting that is cut off today is still a piece of the old plant that has all the genes that the original plant had.

'Bon Accorde'   

Crousse 1863

It may be that flowers and leaves become smaller and cuttings are harder to root. But mostly out of it in the growth properties.

In spite of the excellent conditions in which it is grown, the plant grows less quickly and is difficult to overwinter.

F. triphylla is one of the botanical fuchsias that exhibits this characteristic. The plant has become increasingly difficult in nature due to evolution and ecological conditions.

Fortunately, that is not yet the case in all areas where this plant occurs. Scientists have therefore endeavored to secure seed from healthy plants so that young F. triphylla plants can be cultivated again, which are again available for hybridizing purposes.

It is even the case that, by constantly creating new cultivars by crossing cultivars which, in turn, have also arisen from cultivars and repeating it indefinitely, sometimes beautiful plants are created but that these plants do not grow old to become.

That this happens can often be explained by the fact that the parent plants have properties that are desired by the hybridizer. Like upright flowers, or easy to cross, such as 'WALZ Harp' for which the fourth generation of offspring is already in circulation.

Such plants do not become a hundred years old like our 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt' from the beginning of this story. Often, these plants eventually show difficulties in propagating and growing beautiful plants such as enthusiasts who like to see in their collection. The bloominess also often deteriorates.

In the long run, the cultivars are no longer desired by the enthusiast and there is no question anymore with the companies that grow cuttings for the enthusiast. Which makes the plant disappear from the collection and disappears from the stage.

And there are already countless examples of that.

In the south of the Netherlands and in Belgium there are many hybridizers that the rest of the Netherlands has never heard of, let alone that they have seen the dozens of plants of these hybridizers.

  "You can still see them on the internet" is the cry that is suggested.

Yes, really, it is completely ignored that this way of working is nothing more than presenting your own fame, while the fuchsia lover has a false mirror. If you experience several times that at the end of the year new fuchsias are registered with the AFS, and they are placed on the websites by the hybridizers concerned without being able to bring cutting material to the cuttings, then you are really wrong.

You can compare it with a manufacturer that only promotes its new products on the internet and does not provide the stores.

  You can then safely conclude that the new cultivars do not grow old and that they are no more than fairy-tale characters in the picture book on the website of those hybridizers.

Even in the days when the Netherlands had thousands and thousands of fuchsia enthusiasts, efforts were already being made to reduce the range of novelties. This was attempted by means of new inspections and exclusions from the inspections. But one can not, as an association, decide what happens to someone else's property.

You can, however, make agreements about it, but keeping to agreements often involves many people in that group.

Now in the last years for various reasons such as aging, less free time etc., the number of fuchsia lovers is greatly decreasing it seems that the supply of new cultivars is increasing.

The number of companies that sell fuchsia nets has been greatly reduced. Some of these closed because it was no longer worthwhile due to the shrinking file of enthusiasts. Others follow because one reaches a high age and the succession no longer finds it financially attractive to continue it.

The companies that remain are counted on the fingers of one hand.

The companies that remain are struggling to keep their heads above water and are forced to clear up large parts of their collections to save costs.

Also, these companies do not need a real deluge of new cultivars. All in all, these developments ensure that in the foreseeable future many new, but also much older, cultivars will no longer get the chance to grow old and disappear.

In the period of time from when the first cross between two species was performed by human hands, in 1835 until the second world war in the following century, fuchsias were hybridized in various countries around the Netherlands.

In that period, hundreds and hundreds of cultivars have been hybridized and traded. Because trade was in that period the motivation to create new cultivars. It was mainly plant nurseries that hybridized fuchsias to enlarge their assortment. The hybridizers of that time who did not manage a nursery themselves sold their new cultivars for big money to these nurseries. The fuchsia was then still something exclusive and not a disposable plant as is happening today.

Fuchsia books were not yet published and cultivar lists as we know them did not exist yet. It is the old catalogs of those companies that have now been digitized and give a good insight into what was happening on the market for novelties. Complemented with old drawings and scarce color plates, it can be seen that, despite the lack of knowledge that modern hybridizers have, they were already able to achieve good results.

The use of botanical fuchsias was limited to only a few different species until the end of the nineteenth century, which were also difficult to obtain. You can say that the entire hybridizing event relied on the experiences gained during hybridizing.

Unfortunately, much is changing in this modern time in the fuchsia region. The fancier population is aging and is therefore decreasing considerably. Companies that grow cuttings for enthusiasts disappear, causing large collections of nutplants to disappear, including the oldies who have given the fans a lot of fun for decades.

But completely contradictory, hundreds of new cultivars are still offered by the hybridizers every year. New cultivars, including a part that really adds something to the range that is still available.

These novelties, which in the eyes of the hybridizers and enthusiasts are really excellent, do not have a long life. The cause of this is the oversupply.

After all, every year there are new highlights on the market, and even as a fuchsia enthusiast you simply can not own everything. Beautiful new quality fuchsias that were introduced only a few decades ago and were fiercely wanted by fuchsia enthusiasts, are now no longer wanted or are hardly available anymore.

Do we go to a time when the cultivar lists are well filled and the websites about fuchsias protrude from the photos of fuchsias that once saw the light of day?

Some for centuries, others for decades or just a few years, and a part that has only lived for a few months just for the photo on the internet.

Stopping breeding is usually not an option.

After all, they want to use and enlarge knowledge. That is man's own, and that applies to breeders to a high degree, for which the hybridizing and the acquisition of fame and fame has become a kind of addiction.

But would not it be more sensible to bundle all the knowledge and experiences that have been gained in hybridizing science and to ensure that it is preserved for a period when the fuchsia hobby is flourishing again?

Author: Martien. A. Soeters.

Sappemeer  July 2017