| Hi Christina There appears to be some confusion on your side of the ‘pond’ with many people referring to ‘Gartenmeister Bonstect’ as just 'Gartenmeister’, this probably came about through someone shortening the name for commercial purposes. One description given for Gartenmeister Bonstedt is; ‘Rich brick-red thin flowers are borne in clusters. Dark reddish foliage. A hybrid from Fuchsia triphylla. Vigorous upright free flowering variety’ and another nursery describes it as…. ‘Brick red self-colour, slight bulging bloom, with dark bronzy foliage with purple undersides’ Even this is somewhat confusing, however I am almost certain that you will find that what you have is (if the descriptions match) is Gartenmeister Bonstedt. A good friend of mine John Porter who is an ex President of the British Fuchsia Society along with Keith Ward wrote a treatise on Fuchsia Species in Europe, in which he states….. "….Carl Bonstedt released the ones we all know, cultivars such as Coralle, Gartenmeister Bonstedt, Traudchen Bonstedt, with Thalia appearing the year after. However it is possible that Mary was the first of Bonstedt's varieties, produced in 1897 but not released until 1901…." I have added the link which you may find of interest. Hope this helps Tight.... |