You shouldn't have any problems. Fuchsia heaven is a mild, frost-free climate but with cool summer temperatures. If any parts of your plant have died back over winter - this is not uncommon, even in ideal conditions - they can easily be pruned out. Even in a severe winter with more than 90% of the plant destroyed you can cut it away and it will grow back. Good luck. -Ian.

Thanks, Ian, for the reassurance.

Just to follow up... my fuschia is still in a large pot; I brought it in for freezing temps, and it's doing fine though not yet blooming again.

What's interesting, though, is that the person who gave me my plant did an experiment with a few 'sacrifice' plants from cuttings and left them outside all winter. 3 of 4 plants are greening up nicely after dying back.

The one that didn't make it already seemed less vigorous than the others before the cold weather, so the upshot seems to be that these heat-tolerant fuschias are cold-hardy to at least zone 8 if they're healthy specimens to begin with.

That's good news. In general middle-aged plants are more hardy than young or very old ones. They are also more hardy planted in the ground than if left in pots esp if you mulch. If the worst comes to the worst and your plant is badly frosted you can often recover it by cutting back hard to ground level. Good luck. Ian