Now’s the time to propagate
Cuttings and divisions offer new plants for free
Cuttings and divisions offer new plants for free
Some people just buy started plants at the nursery and consider themselves smart gardeners.
Other people think of themselves as creative, if not downright talented, and start their plants from cuttings and divisions. Fall is a good time to experiment with rooting new plants.
Propagating plants that have been especially pleasing is an easy task that bears great results. Good prospects include perennial herbs and flowers, roses, shrubs and certain trees such as figs.
Herbs and other perennial plants can be divided and replanted in the garden to overwinter outdoors. Or, those with smaller root clumps can be potted for overwintering indoors.
Other flowers that root well from cuttings include bedding begonias, blue marguerites, fuchsia, gaillardia, gazania, gardenia, hibiscus, jasmine, lantana and mums. Among the easiest of all to root is geraniums, which root in sand or vermiculite and placed in a sunny window.
Separating and replanting large clumps of spring- and summer-blooming perennials such as daylilies, bearded irises and Shasta daisies can be done a little bit at a time. Prepare the new beds with compost on one day, then dig, separate the clumps, and replant them the next day.
What to do: Various sources give different timings as when to take softwood cuttings. My rule is this: Make a stem cutting with two or more nodes, dip the cut part in Rootone, stick it in a mixture of sand, vermiculite and/or potting mix and see what happens.
In other words, experiment. If it roots, you are a success. If it doesn’t root, figure out why and try again. All you’ve lost (or gained) is time.
Roses can be propagated by rooting cuttings, but be wary of using cuttings from grafted plants. The new plant will not display the vigor of the “mother” plant since it’s on its own roots.
One easy way to propagate woody shrubs is by layering. Simply bend a branch down to the ground, and rough up the thick outside layer of bark for about an inch, where the branch touches the ground. Bury this portion, but allow the tip leaves to remain above ground. Keep the branch in this position with a rock or brick. In a year or so, it will be well rooted and can be cut free from the mother plant to be transplanted.
Bearded iris and other bulb or rhizome clumps can be divided in fall. First water the growing bed several days before digging to ease the effort. Loosen the soil with a fork, and pull up the clumps. Divide and toss out the unproductive central portion, trim the productive roots to three inches, and cut the “fans” that grow above ground to six to eight inches. Then, replant, barely cover the rhizomes with soil and water to settle them in. If you have more rhizomes than you wish to replant, pass them on to friends to start their own iris beds.
There are a number of excellent propagation books available at book stores, plus tons of useful information online on Google seaches such as leaf cuttings, softwood cuttings, hardwood cuttings, seed collection and more.
The resulting quantities of baby plants make very personal gifts, especially if the plant has been admired by the recipient. They are great friend-makers with neighbors on the block, garden club members, and in-laws who thought you were nuts in trying to root cuttings in the first place.
Try it. You’ll like it.
A Reader Wants to Know: My tomatoes have almost stopped production. There are a lot of green tomatoes left to ripen. Do I wait it out, or pull out the bushes?
Joan Says: Wait it out by all means! As the days grow shorter and cooler, tomato production slows down. But it does not stop. Those green tomatoes will turn red and ripen, although slower than in the height of summer warmth. Cut back the vine’s growing tips so that all its energy goes into ripening the green tomatoes. Water and prune the bushes. Thanks to our mild weather, tomato production lasts far into fall in our region.
A Reader Wants to Know: Is it OK to seed new lawn now?
Joan Says: The best time to seed new lawn or to overseed a worn lawn is from mid-Steptember through October. Go ahead and prepare the site and buy your seed. A sod lawn can be installed any time in the year, but fall is also a prime time to install sod lawn.
A Reader Wants to Know: My Fuji apple tree is in Year Two, and it only has a few apples, maybe a dozen, on the tree. Do I need to do anything special to the tree or is this normal?
Joan Says: Each year, starting in Year Two, an apple tree will produce more apples. Actually a dozen apples on a Year Two Fuji is a pretty good result. Your tree will increase its production as it matures, and by Year Five will have a heavy crop. Enjoy the apples you have.
E-mail Joan Jackson at [email protected]
