The Fuchsia is a classic garden plant steeped in the romance of the cottage garden style. Although the name is commonly pronounced "few-sha" it's correct botanical pronunciation is "fuke'-zi-a" and it also goes by the common names of Lady's-Eardrops, Fairy Caps, and Chinese Lantern.

The Fuchsia was named after a German botanist, author and physician of the 16 century, Leonhard Fuchs who was largely responsible for the shrub being included in the garden world.

Most Fuchsias are native to Central and South America while a few more unusual varieties are natives of New Zealand. Today there exist over 100 species and several thousand named cultivars. Most are shrubs or small trees. Species magellanica with it's 1-2 inch small red and purple/blue flowers can attain 6.5m.

While the N.Z. species procumbens is a prostrate groundcover with small orange purple flowers and oval leaves that hardy resembles what is commonly thought of as a Fuchsia. Most of what is commonly known as Fuchsia in the garden world comes from species hybrida. These are a more modern cross between magellanica and a Mexican species.