Fuchsias—Deciduous or Evergreen?

I asked Peter Baye this question
and this is his answer.
Elsie Sydnor, Editor

Elsie, most garden hybrid fuchsias are drought-deciduous rather than winter-cold deciduous. It's complicated by their mixed ancestry -- they aren't adapted to any one particular climate, because their F. fulgens/splendens (Mexican-Central American) ancestry is strongly drought (dry season) deciduous, and their F. magellanica ancestry is somewhat, too...but the F. regia ancestry is evergreen! And the more recent hybrids from many species complicate things more. But most of the traits in the classic garden fuchsias are dominated by the magellanica-fulgens/spendens lines, and so are properly deciduous. But our Pacific coast deciduous patterns are in the wet season, related to winter cold.....so it's no wonder we have to force fuchsias to follow our seasons. Fortunately, the same traits help them go dormant.