Propagate!

This is the time of year that although it is only 10ºF (-12ºC) or so, I start gardening again -- yahoo! Like many of you I start seeds indoors at this time, but this is also when I start seriously thinking about propagation of some of the plants I overwintered.

I love buying new plants as much as the next plant-crazy gardening addict person, but I also appreciate not having to buy the same plants every single year. So with a little effort I overwinter what would have been annuals, then make several new plants from them for planting outdoors once it warms up.

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Top of my "must overwinter and propagate" list is Plectranthus 'Cerveza 'n' Lime':

Those fat, fuzzy leaves are pretty enough, but this foliage has one of the most delicious fragrances to me -- it just wakes me up! I believe this species (Plectranthus coleoides) is also called "Cuban Oregano" but I don't think it's edible. Can anybody verify?

This plant is super easy to propagate: just stick a cutting into water and it quickly roots. This is the first year that I've overwintered an entire plant indoors...

...so I have even more propagation material than I usually do, which means this will be everywhere in my garden -- and I'll be able to share with neighbors and friends too!


My purple fountain grasses are doing fine, although some of them might need a bit more fertilizer.

Getting the balance right between happy plants and too much new growth (requiring frequent "mowings") is the challenge here (but it's not too difficult).


Also for the first time I moved my biggest, most wonderful Tradescantia zebrina hanging basket into the basement, in a spot that receives very little light. As a result it's been slowly diminishing...

...and turning into something that's not very pretty at all, but still has lots of viable cutting material:

So I'll be taking lots of cuttings and rooting them in water. (This is a tough plant. I once left cuttings out on the growing table for several weeks and they still rooted after I put them into water!)


I'm also starting to think about making my new, wonderful potted Agave collection even bigger by removing some of the pups:

That's a task best left until it warms up according to Gerhard, and I trust his advice on this matter.


I'll also wait until it warms up to divide the papyrus...

...which is looking quite good in the garage. The key to overwintering this one is not letting it freeze and keeping the rootball wet. The amount of light it receives is not too important, although it probably needs a little bit, but nothing too bright. I'm excited that I'll have several of these to place around the garden again next year!


I'll start potting up some of the spider plant babies too...

...and start watering the parent plants too -- some of them are quite dry:

They can take it though. Those fat roots allow this plant to go months without water. Spider plants make such nice filler plants in the garden, I like to keep several on hand to fill in those gaps that form over the summer.


I'll be doing all of this over the weekend, and I can't wait!

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