Plant Propagation

Is Fascinating And Addictive

Until you've grown lots of plants from seed, cuttings or other means, you haven't lived. Most plant propagation starts out of necessity - your mother in law admires your Tradescantia, so you take a snip and root it in water for her.

Other times, you may need a particular color of flower in your garden beds, so you hunt down a package of Zinnias in exactly the right pink. Seed growing is where a lot of it starts, but it can easily get out of hand.

Growing seedlings for your garden requires grow lights, of course. And then you will need special flats and cell packs, pots in various sizes, and watering cans that can give them a soft shower, not a drenching.

After a while, you wonder where you will put it all, so you build a greenhouse.

The addiction is complete when you dream about taking cuttings, potting up the results when they've rooted, and then also find yourself muttering, nice cutts, and fondling a rose stem at the perfect stage for rooting softwood cuttings.

People will either roll their eyes at your approach and hide the plants, or greet you with hands extended with a plant in need of help, so you get known as 'that person who can root anything'.

Over time, you'll be able to look at any plant and determine if there is any cutting potential, and buy the one with the most stems that are ready to propagate.