The cutting bug is back, being spring and all. Everywhere I look I see another propagation project awaiting me. Some projects I've done before like the chrysanthemums and others are new experiments like the crape myrtles. Here's what I did this Wednesday!
- Cut the grass! OK you may not have expected that one, but technically it IS a cutting.
- Butterfly Bush cuttings. I think they are 'Black Knight' cuttings but I don't know for sure. I made 7 or 8 cuttings total.
- Crape myrtle cuttings. I took greenwood cuttings from a suckering crape myrtle. I've never done the crape myrtle before with cuttings but I think I stand a good chance of success. We'll see! there are 12 of them in all.
- Sedum cuttings. I took two branches of what I think is an 'Autumn Joy' sedum. With sedum you can just drop them in a jar of water since they root easily .
- Chocolate mint cuttings. The mint already had plenty of roots and I just planted it in a pot. Always remember to plant mint in pots. Remember. Always remember to plant mint in pots! Chocolate mint is great for flavoring a good ole southern classic...iced tea! I bet it would be good in some homemade ice cream.
- Rosemary cuttings. Some of the rosemary branches were cuttings and some had already rooted through self-layering. Now where's that rabbit...
- I also checked my Russian sage cuttings and found that they had rooted. A couple more days and I'll pot them up and let them grow.
- I made some chrysanthemum cuttings about two weeks ago and checked them today. All but two of the 21 had significant roots. One of those I threw away, the other was starting to root so I potted it up with the other 19. Time to go get some more cuttings. Since mums are supposed to be pinched back until July I just take what I cut off and root it. When you consider that the stores sell them for $5-$6 each, I may have just saved $100 or more by making those cuttings. Just watch for the patents again, quite a few of the mums have patents on them.
That's about it for Wednesday. I tinkered in the garden with the irrigation a little but I'll save that for another time.Labels: plant propagation
