Growing Tiny Gardens: Third Steps

Plant Lab: Experimenting with Propagation

Step One ~ We built up inventory. Step Two ~ We did a lot of background work: We went to the 2012 New England Grows! convention. We put together a Story Board. We took an evening class on Entrepreneur-ing. We met almost weekly for lunch and hammered out costs and expectations, and so on.

In the end, however, it still came down to putting the plants in the dirt.

Step Three: The late-winter and early-spring months for me were spent in experimentation. I would see a bush in a yard on my street, think to myself, That would look good in a trough. Then I would clip it and thus begin what was to become a mild obsession of mine: propagation.

My aspirations during this season: Start to learn how plants work by means of stem cuttings, splitting plants and by planting small "volunteers" that already have roots (seedlings pulled from the ground). I would take snips from shrubs (woody) or suckers growing out of trees (green growth). I would make sure there was a clean cut at its end, shave away about 1/2" of bark off the woody stems, and place them securely in sifted healthy soil with good drainage. I would place these small containers on a shelf in a south-facing window and watch them, making sure to keep the soil moist.

This trough contains two plants I propagated: Upper right, Euonymous fortunei;
Center: 'Ascot Rainbow' Cushion Spurge Euphorbia.

During this stretch of a few months I successfully propagated (to name a few): Abutilon (Flowering Maple),  Podocarpus macrophyllus ("Japanese Yew"), 'Ascot Rainbow' Cushion Spurge Euphorbia, Euonymous fortunei, and numerous sedums (much more on Sedums is to be forthcoming). Many of my  experiments failed. It's okay. There was enough success to render bliss.

Garden Lesson: There is an advantage (on one level) to not knowing the scientific way to go about such things as propagation. I have benefitted from not knowing what I was doing because I was unafraid to try anything, even if is was deemed unconventional. Plants love to grow!

Life Lesson: Starting a new life from a severed and prematurely uprooted one requires patience, diligence, watch care, warmth, refreshment and a willingness to believe that growth is happening, even if you don't see it.

Go here to read "First Steps," then follow on through to "Second Steps"