Plants in the Hortus
Many of the plants described here were listed in the catalogues of plants published by Sir William Macarthur in 1843, 1845, 1850 and 1857 and in an unpublished catalogue dated 1861. A large number of additional plants were identified from correspondence, gardening notebooks and other documents surviving in the archives. The Hortus attempts to describe all the plants grown in the gardens at Camden Park and those grown in horticultural enterprises such as orchards and vineyards and includes plants grown outside the gardens in the park-like environs of the Camden Park estate. The Hortus plants served a wide range of purposes in the 19th century household; as ornament, living fences, fibre, dyestuffs, medicines, food and drink from the garden, orchard and vineyard and many others.
Fuchsia ‘Sir Henry Pottinger’
A cultivar of unknown parentage. ‘Sir H. Pottinger […] habit is that of Eppsii, quite equal in size, and a very free bloomer; tube and sepals of a delicate light flesh colour slightly veined with pink; sepals well expanded showing the beautiful dark crimson and purple corolla.’ Advertisement. [GC p.253/1845].
Fuchsia ‘Splendidissima’
In 1852, in the pages of The Gardeners Chronicle, Edward George Henderson & Son, of St Johns Wood, advertised the Fuchsia ‘Splendidissima’ for sale: ‘Unrivalled first class show flower, for exhibition purposes; the flowers of large size and great substance; sepals well reflexed, with fine, smooth, crimson tube, and large violet-purple corolla; the plant of good habit and free flowerer; altogether this is a very superior variety.’ [Gard. Chron. 1852].
Fuchsia ‘Stormentii’
‘A fuchsia, called Stormentii, from France, was very handsome.’ [The Magazine of Horticulture, Botany, and all useful Discoveries and Improvements in Rural Affairs vol.XII, p.202/1846]. I have found no description of this cultivar.
Fuchsia Banks’ ‘Climax’
Banks’ new seedling fuchsia of 1855, ‘Climax’, was described in glowing terms in an advertisement in The Gardeners Chronicle: ‘Tube stout, sepals very broad reflex, with a pretty curve or half circle, the points of the petals touching the seed vessel; colour, rich velvety crimson – the corolla is very large, of a splendid violet blue and great substance; habit; robust and blooms particularly free.’ [Gard. Chron 1855].
Fuchsia Banks’ ‘Glory’
‘First Class Certificates were awarded to Mr. Smith for 2 seedling Fuchsias, Glory (Banks’); a fine variety, with scarlet tube and sepals well reflexed, of good substance, corolla violet purple, smooth and even on the edge and stout.’ Report of the National Floricultural Society summer show. [Gard. Chron. June 19th, 1852].
Fuchsia Banks’ ‘Prince Albert’
Banks’ ‘Prince Albert’ is described in the Floricultural Cabinet: ‘Tube and sepals scarlet crimson, much reflexed. Corolla a rich violet, very handsome.’ [FC p.279/1854].
Fuchsia Banks’s ‘Nonesuch’
Fuchsia ‘Nonesuch’, Banks, 1852. It was described as crimson with a dark purple corolla, of good shape and a free bloomer, by C. Turner, the Royal Nursery, Slough, in an advertisement in The Gardeners Chronicle of 1852.
Fuchsia corymbiflora Ruiz. & Pav.
Frost-tender, erect or climbing shrub with opposite leaves, to 19cm long, and arching to pendant, terminal racemes of narrowly funnel-shaped flowers with pale pink to vermillion tubes and sepals, to 5cm long, in summer, followed by reddish-purple berries. To 4m. [RHSD, Hortus].
Fuchsia corymbiflora Ruiz. & Pav. var. alba Harrison
See Fuchsia corymbiflora Ruiz. & Pav. for a description and history of the species. Fuchsia corymbiflora alba is similar to the type but the calyx tube and lobes are almost white. [RHSD].
Fuchsia Epps’ ‘Kentish Bride’
A dark coloured fuchsia bred by Epps, ‘a good variety’. [Gard. Chron. 1846]. At this time dark coloured meant crimson tube and sepals and purplish corolla. I have found no more detailed description.
Fuchsia fulgens DC.
Frost-tender, upright shrub with spreading branches, ovate, finely-toothed leaves, to 23cm long, and pendant, terminal racemes of very small flowers, to 5cm long, with pink tubes, pale red sepals, green-tinged at the margins, and bright red corollas. To 1.5m. [RHSE, Hortus, Don].
Fuchsia Harrison’s ‘Goldfinch’
It is figured in the Floricultural Cabinet with a white tube and sepals, the latter tipped with green and well reflexed, and a bright red corolla shaded with orange. [FC p.226/1843].
Fuchsia Henderson’s ‘Duchess of Lancaster’
Henderson’s ‘Duchess of Lancaster’, 1853. ‘White tube and sepals, vermillion corolla, extra fine.’ The flower was well reflexed and distinctive. It was considered an excellent show fuchsia. [FC p.106/1853, FC p.33/1855 and FC p.23/1856].
