It will be less hardy in a container than it will be in the ground. That could be part of the problem. Otherwise, they grow perfectly well here.......I've grown them for years and have several in my current garden. I can think of no other flowering shrub with as a long a bloom season and my resident humming birds love them!!

They can be quite late in the season to bud and leaf out so don't give up hope yet. Depending on exposure, it could be midMay before you see signs of life. I was very surprised to see my 'Aureum' leafing out in March but we had a very mild winter. One other hardy fuchsia in my garden - 'Dying Embers' - never even lost its leaves. A first for me!

The rule of thumb is go down two zones for containers. So, your potted fuschia should be reliably hard in zone 6. I would give it a bigger pot, give it some insulation in winter (closer to the walls/bubble wrap...) or bring it indoors next time (presuming it survives or you get a new one).

Are you sure you don't mean up two zones? Surely 6 would be iffy in the ground with a thick mulch, let alone in a pot.

Yes up for containers, not down.

What I mean by down two zones is if you are potting something in a container, and are in zone 8, you should go for a plant that is at least reliably hardy in zone 6.
In this particular example, op lives in zone 8 and has plant that might survive zone 6. So, with some extra protection the plant could survive in a container. Am I missing something?

There should also be no issue with overwintering a hardy fuchsia in a container in the OP's zone. The winters are mild enough that not much of anything in a container should require winter protection. I frequently manage to overwinter tender perennials/shrubs like zonal geraniums or coprosma and cuphea in containers.

I would just reinforce my suggestion to not to give up hope yet. In most years, hardy fuchsias are very late to show signs of life....it is not at all uncommon to see no signs of new growth or basal buds until well into May.

Well, I sure hope I've judged it wrongly as dead and I will keep the skeleton around for a while yet to see if it sprouts anything.

Either way, next winter I will look into more protection for the pot, whether it's holding the old plant or a new one. I do know we had a bad cold snap both this winter and last, so maybe that plus the smallness of the plant and the two-zones-less-hardy thing are all contributing factors.