The fuchsia plant was first discovered on an island in the Dominican Republic in the 1600's and it was named after a German botanist Leonhart Fuchs. It is a great plant with such a comprehensive range of variety's most are happy in sun or shade and also flower for a long period of time. They are mainly used for their incredibly attractive flowers and also the majority of specimens are hardy. It is not well known that the small purple fuchsia fruits which can be found on some variety's are actually edible (some more than others), they have a kind of citrus flavour with a peppery aftertaste and are best used in jams to sweeten them. When it comes to unusual and beautiful exotic flowers you can expect to see and abundance of them during the summer months and they will tend to die off when autumn comes around.