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Wellington

I went to an auction recently of some 100 fuchsia-themed items. I was pleased to successfully bid on Lot 2, a hand-painted pot.

A recent auction of unique fuchsia collectibles draws in Clare Gleeson.

Sold by Dunbar Sloane in Wellington, the dozens of teacups, coffeepots, jars, vases, postcards, paintings and pieces of linen featuring the pendulous teardrop shape of the fuchsia lent the stark auction room a strange horticultural vibe. The tables and shelves of items for sale had been collected by fuchsia fans Ted and Alison Sweetman over a lifetime of devotion to the Fuchsia genus.

“Fuchsias were very much their lives for a long, long time,” explained Wellington Fuchsia Club member Mila Juventin.

Avid fuchsia growers, the husband and wife founded Wellington Fuchsia Society in 1977 (which had over 140 members in the 1990s and held the largest fuchsia show in the southern hemisphere for many years) and were key in the establishment of the National Fuchsia Society in 1984. Ted served as president of both societies over the years and Alison was editor of the National Society’s journal, The Link.

Ted was the son of a Palmerston North nurseryman, but the Sweetmans were both equally smitten with the genus and “both knew a lot about fuchsias and how to look after them”, Mila says.

As is true of most who inhabit the gardening world, they were happy to share their knowledge, but then as Ted was fond of saying, “fuchsia folk are friendly folk”.

In 1991, having assembled years of wisdom and expertise, he published a book on fuchsia growing in New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific.

An important component of the local and national Fuchsia Societies’ activities were the horticultural shows when grower faced grower, fuchsia faced fuchsia. Judging the merits of each fuchsia’s four long slender sepals and four shorter petals took training and skill, and Ted passed exams to be a fuchsia judge in the US before judging competitions there and in New Zealand.

Alison and Ted were a keen travellers,

and Ted organised tours for local fuchsia enthusiasts around New Zealand and to the US. He also brought groups of Americans to New Zealand’s fuchsia hotspots, gave hundreds of talks to clubs and societies, and presented at fuchsia conferences around the world.

The Sweetmans’ Churton Park garden contained more than 1000 fuchsias.

Naturally, they were “absolutely glorious” and Wellington Society members looked forward to seeing them every year when the couple hosted the society’s Christmas party.

Not content with growing the varieties available in New Zealand, the Sweetmans also imported fuchsia plants and collected and grew seed of as many as they could of the world’s 100 wild fuchsia species as part of a programme to introduce them into cultivation.

Their house too was a showcase for fuchsias. As well as enjoying upright, standard, trailing, small, large, brightly coloured and pastel fuchsia plants in the garden and conservatory, inside the house, guests were surrounded by “oodles of fuchsia lore”, including fuchsia artwork on the walls, shelves full of books on fuchsias, and fuchsia-adorned china, glassware and linen.

The significant place the couple held in the fuchsia world was recognised by each having a variety named after them:

Fuchsia ‘Alison Sweetman’ and Fuchsia ‘Ted Sweetman’.

As well as in the plants that bear their names, the Sweetmans’ horticultural legacy can be seen in the Wellington Botanic Garden’s fuchsia border where Ted provided plant material and advice as it was being developed. In recognition of all he did for fuchsias in New Zealand, Ted, who died in 2008, was made an Associate of Honour of the Royal New Zealand Institute of Horticulture in 1997.

When the Sweetmans moved to an apartment in Oriental Bay, their magnificent fuchsia plant collection had to be disposed of, but the fuchsia lore was kept together until recently.

The collection had been built up over many years of fuchsia-orientated travels and current Wellington Society members remember the Sweetmans as “very generous, giving pieces for raffles over the years” and later donating items to be raffled and sold at the National Society’s biennial Fuchsiarama, a social event where fuchsia societies from all over New Zealand get together.

Before it was trucked to Dunbars, Alison had asked members of the Wellington Society to pick some items from the collection to be used for raffle prizes.

Taking only a few precious pieces with her to her new home in a retirement village, she also donated a tea set and coffee set to be used at National Society meetings. Now, mementos of their contribution to the fuchsia world can be found in homes throughout Wellington and possibly beyond. ✤

Thanks to Wellington Fuchsia Society members for their assistance.

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