[spader]

Hi All

I recently bought young 3 hardy fuchsias, and planted into the border of our back garden. They seemed fine for about 2-3 weeks, but then it rained heavily for about 2 weeks soaking the garden soil very much.

This morning when I went out to back garden, the soil was full of water everywhere, and there were some small water ponds of rain water - normally it is never like this, but with the amount of recent rain......

All was fine, but these 3 young fuchsias seems to have died. I am not sure if they are just unhappy with either the soil or the amount of the rain water in the soil, but all 3 of them looked dark and wilted.

What could have been actual cause for this? Is there anything I can do to bring them back to life? Is there any chance they might survive?

Thanks

[Goosegirl]

I would dig them up and re-pot into compost but don't water for a few days to give the water chance to percolate out into the compost. As they are new, they might just have lost their leaves earlier than established ones but there's nothing lost in trying. It has been bleating down so much here I'm thinking of growing rice next year!!!

[DavidT]

Goosegirl has got it spot on, pot them up. As they are hardy they can take a little bit of abuse.

[yorky]

Even hardy Fuchsias tend to lose all their top growth during the winter. Its the roots below ground that survive to sprout again in Spring.
Normaly small plants are planted in the spring so that they have all summer to develop a strong root system capable of surviving the winter.
I would do as the others say and pot them up, keep them frost free for this winter and plant them out again next spring.
Good luck.

[spader]

Thanks all for your advice. Much appreciated. Very clear and useful. I will do that in next 2-3 days. I hope that rain will stop soon.

regards
S.