Master propagation to make big savings
Gardeners with green fingers are never short of plants because they have mastered propagation.
For some it comes naturally, others develop the skill by observing and experimenting, yet more research diverse methods and practise them successfully.
The ability to raise your own plants saves money and creates a surplus.
Many of our garden plants either self-sow, develop offshoots, runners, or suckers, and do the job for us.
All the gardener need do is step in and collect the spoils.
We are currently digging up foxgloves, a biennial which germinated and formed a substantial plant rosette last year, ready for flowering this summer.
Planting these in groups now secures an eye-catching early display that is cost-free.
A hardy Cyclamen x hederifolium has occupied the same garden spot for ages, and every year has a few self-sown seedlings with tiny corms to offer.
Look around the ornamental borders of any mature garden and prepare for similar surprises.
Several herbaceous perennials in our borders expand via underground shoots (rhizomes) so, digging up a large clump and dividing it into sections, each with roots and shoots, creates instant new plants.
Helianthemum, aster, rudbeckia, achillea, helenium and others are currently dormant and remain so for at least another month, so action is required.
Surface runners emanating from mature strawberry plants last summer, developed plantlets at their tips, these rooted on the spot and can now be used to form a row and help rejuvenate the bed.
A thornless blackberry “Loch Ness” had a vigorous young stem touching the soil last summer, so we removed some leaves from behind the tip and weighed it down with a brick.
Now a well-rooted young plant is ready to go!
Suckers have emerged from the base of a shrubby Spiraea x billiardii which has upright purple-pink flower spikes in July/ August.
Shoots have also risen beneath a double white Lilac (Syringa “Madame Lemoine”) May/June.
All that’s required is a spade and a good home for the new plants.
Certain indoor pot plants are the last word in showing propagating opportunities to us.