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Correa 'Ivory Bells' (White Australian Fuchsia) - An evergreen shrub that grows to 4 to 5 feet tall with equal spread and has oval 1 inch long gray-green densely-hairy leaves on coppery-colored stems and ivory-white bell-shaped flowers with flared petals that hang downwards from branches from late fall well into early spring. Best in cool coastal full sun or part shade with occasional to little summer irrigation. It is hardy to around 20 degrees F and tolerant of seaside conditions. This attractive and durable landscape plant brightens the garden in winter and is attractive to nectar eating birds, including hummingbirds. We find it particularly useful for growing under our native live oaks or used as a low screen or accent plant.
Correa is a genus of eleven species endemic to Australia. The name for the genus honors Jose Francisco Correia de Serra (1750–1823), a Portuguese abbot and naturalist. Though a hybrid of two Australian species, Correa alba and Correa backhousiana, this plant has its origins in the San Francisco bay area. It was the result of the hybridizing work in the 1940's of legendary bay area plantsman Victor Reiter Jr. (1903-1986). Mr. Reiter, one of the founders of the California Horticultural Society, has many plants named in his honor and the Arbutus 'Marina' tree in Victor and Carla Reiter's Stanyan Ave yard was the specimen that the Saratoga Horticultural Foundation took its cuttings from when they introduced this tree in 1984.
Correa 'Ivory Bells' is without a doubt the toughest of the Australian Fuchsia that we grow. There is a nice article about this plant by Patrice Hanlon on the Heather Farms website titled A Not-So-fussy Winter Bloomer. We have continuously grown this great Australian Fuchsia since 1986 after getting plants from the Saratoga Horticultural Foundation.
Information displayed on this page about Correa 'Ivory Bells' is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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