Hi Barb

Some of your questions are outside my range of knowledge, however I can maybe help on some of them.

With regards to planting this plant outside I think you could but I am not sure about overwintering it (someone will know though).

If you intend keeping the plant in a pot on a sunny porch I would suggest that you put the plant container inside another container and fill the gap with gravel, this will allow you to water the gravel and help keep the roots cool. You will need 2 fairly big pots to do this as your plant will put on a lot of growth.

The plant will respond better if you can give it some form of shade during the hottest part of the day.

Sorry that I can't be of much help but the link below might be worthwhile looking at.

Tight....

Here is a link that might be useful: fuchsia x hybrida

Tightathome, thank you! I especially like the idea of the double pots; never thought of that, and the link is excellent. GBU!