This Sunday may be the last time I give my mom a Mother’s Day fuchsia basket, my go-to gift for most of the past 35 years.
It makes me sad. Nearly 93, Mom is moving into a retirement/assisted living place next month, and I don’t think she’ll have a place for the basket.
For now, though, as we clear out her house and get it ready for sale, we’re all going to enjoy the new fuchsia. We’ll hang it in the usual spot, just outside the dining room window. All she has to do is open the window, stick the watering-can spout into the basket and refresh it.
Mom has come to anticipate the annual gift of a hanging flower basket. Even when she successfully wintered over a fuchsia, the spot of honor was reserved for the new plant. By July, it’s always bursting with blooms and attracting hummingbirds. And that’s a real treat at the breakfast table.
I bought this year’s basket at Jordan Nursery, located northeast of Stanwood. Owners Kevin Jones and his wife, Jeanell, specialize in fuchsias and geraniums (pelargonium is the true name; North Americans innocently but incorrectly use the name geranium).
Kevin Jones is a plant collector. He estimates they have nearly 1,000 varieties of pelargonium and more than 1,000 varieties of fuchsia — surely one of the most extensive collections in the country.
“I’m not greedy,” Jones said with a laugh. “I just want one of everything.”
My mom is a big-band swing music fan, so I picked out the fuchsia named SwingTime. It’s red with a white center.
It has a number of buds, but no blooms yet. That’s the best way to buy a fuchsia basket, and that way you get to enjoy the plant’s full cycle. When a blossom is spent, be sure to remove it and the underlying seed pod. Without the pods, the plant is then tricked into blooming longer. Water fully (water drips from the hole at the bottom of the basket) every other day; more in hot weather. Fertilize once a month.
SwingTime is a hardy fuchsia, but when it’s in a basket, it needs shade. In the ground, hardy fuchsias can withstand full sun, but they must be planted deep (6 inches of stem included) by the first of October and covered with some mulch to protect it from frost, Jones said.
To winter over a fuchsia, Jones recommends removing the plant to a garage, carport or greenhouse just before the first frost. Stop fertilizing. Trim the plant back to the edge of the pot or basket. With a fork, poke holes into the soil and keep it damp, but not wet. If you have a stretch of mild winter days, put the garage-bound basket outside.
Jones, 52, is still holding onto his swing-shift job at Boeing, but he has been growing plants since he was a student in the agriculture program at Marysville Pilchuck High School and built his own greenhouse at home.
“I had an Everett Herald paper route and I would give away vegetable starts to my subscribers. That always ensured better tips at collection time,” he said.
Jones started Jordan Nursery on Jordan Road in 1987 and a year later moved it to a cow pasture north of the intersection of Freeborn and Cedarhome roads. His property is now filled with mature trees and rhododendrons. His greenhouses are packed, testifying to his passion and his wife’s organizational skills.
It’s a great place to shop for a Mother’s Day fuchsia basket.
I hope you like yours, Mom.
Jordan Nursery
30407 68th Ave. NW, Stanwood; 360-629-4827; JordanNursery@yahoo.com; www.jordannursery.net; www.facebook.com/JordanNuseryOfficial.
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