overwinter fuchsias

Yes. Where I live fuchsias are generally annuals. If you bring them in for the winter watch out for whitefly and spider mites. I would generally recommend a cool room (55 - 60F) with bright diffused light; let them go semi-dormant and water sparingly. They will probably lose most of their leaves. Come spring, cut them back, begin to fertilize and water to keep up with new growth, then acclimate to the outdoors gradually.

The other approach would be to keep them in active growth with bright light and more regular watering. They'll probably still lose lots of leaves. Either way, it can be fun to play with. Fuchsias are truly lovely.

One more thing: increasing relative humidity around the plant in the winter would be beneficial.

The above post is excellent advice. I will just add that I did this for experimental purposes one year and was successful; however, I found that they were very slow to bloom in the spring and I'm rather impatient, so I just buy new. Sometimes if our winder is very mild, I've discovered that they will survive being left outdoors and virtually ignored.

Absolutely agree, twopeas! Leaving it to Mother Nature is often the best course. (I'm with you on the buy new thing, too - just depends on how you want to spend your time and what projects you're learning from, or if you consider your "keeper" to be a rare find.)

I live in southern WV, and have never gotten a fuschia thru the winter, as an inside plant. My huge cactus winters well in my basement, and I've wintered a geranium in the past, but have had no luck with a fuschia or a fern. I have two beautiful fuschias hanging on my clothesline posts that I'd like to keep as long as possible, but my plan is to hang them in the garage and see how long they can survive there.

I tried one winter. It wasn't worth the attention needed. It was slow to get started in the spring and just looked awful. I ended up buying a new basket. What a waste of time and energy.