FINCHforum

I have tried to search to find out if the Fuchsia plant is a bird safe plant but can't seem to find anything.

Does anybody know if that would be a bird safe plant?

Being they are always dropping their blooms...I thought my Finches might enjoy playing with the flowers once they fall off.

not sure about fuchsia's but if they are related to hibiscus then they should be safe, every bird I have ever had has eaten hibiscus flowers & leaves. poultry,pheasants, parrots & finches

Yes it's safe. I have have even had jelly made from the berries.

Thanks for the info.

Christopher Smith....You made Fuchsia Jelly???! That sounds interesting.....do you have a recipe you would be willing to share? I would be game to try it.

Sorry, I didn't make it. A friend gave me some that a relative of her's made. But I did find this on line.

(1) JELLY

Ingredients

1½ lbs ripe berries.
3 tablespoons water or apple juice.
Method

Boil slowly together until all the juice is extracted, then strain. Add 34 lb sugar to juice from ½ a lemon and add 1 pint of the liquid. Place over low heat until sugar has dissolved then boil rapidly until it sets when tested.

Pour jelly into hot jars and cover at once.

(2) JAM

Ingredients

1½ lb ripe berries.
1 lb of sugar.
Juice of ½ a lemon.
2 tablespoons water or apple pectin or juice.
Method

Put sugar and water in pan over low heat until sugar dissolves, allow to cool and add washed fruit and lemon juice. Gradually bring to boil then boil rapidly until it will set when tested on a plate. Pour into hot jars and seal.

(3) THE VICTORIAN WAY

Gillian Roberts from Wembly in Middlesex found her answer while looking through some Victorian books and the following is a recipe for Jelly.

Ingredients

2 cups of fuchsia berries.
1 cup of granulated sugar for each cup of juice.
2 tablespoons pectin for each cup of juice.
Method

Wash and cover berries with water then boil until berries can be mashed. Strain through a cloth. To the measured juice in a saucepan add the exact amount of sugar specified in the recipe and mix well.

Place over high heat and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. At once stir in the pectin and bring to a flill rolling boil. Boil for one minute, stirring constantly, then remove from heat Skim off foam with a metal spoon and pour quickly into warm jars. Cover at once with greaseproof sealing covers.

Thank you so very much for taking the time to post the recipe CS. I am very grateful!

I have printed it out and will hopefully make some when I get enough Fuchsia berries. This will be a fun experiment...I can't wait!

Oh...and I put a couple of Fuchsia blossoms in my finche's cage and they wouldn't go near it for several hours...lol! It must be the color(red&purple)...as anything green I put in like Dandelions and Creeping Charlie...they are on it pronto!

James wrote:34 lbs sugar?

ROFLMAO! I was thinking the same thing.

Anybody ever had rose petal chutney? A teaspoon in the center of a HUGE bowl of vanilla ice cream is really good. Maybe it's just the ice cream.

OK you wise guys...LOL!! We all know he meant 3/4 lbs of sugar.

Or did he transpose and really mean 43 lbs of sugar!

34 or 43 who cares with that much sugar you can make pine straw jelly and people will like it.
James