Gardening Bytes

Posts Tagged ‘Propagating Plants’

Thanksgiving Cactus (Schlumbergera) is an unusual looking houseplant originally from Brazil that blooms in late fall. The stems of the plant are segmented and flat and has brightly colored pink, yellow, white, red, orange, pink, yellow, or purple flowers on the end of the stems. The Thanksgiving Cactus prefers moderate room humidity and bright indirect light. When ready to bloom do not move the plant from it’s location. Care for blooming is similar to the Poinsettia plant, the Thanksgiving Cactus requires at least eight days with 16 hours of darkness at 61 degrees should cause flower buds to form. The Thanksgiving Cactus can be keep indoors at the temperatures mentioned below, or left outdoors in a shady location starting in fall to help set flowers, then brought back in before the first frost. To set buds in time for the holidays the Thanksgiving Cactus needs cool temps of 60-65 degrees during the day and 45-55 degrees during the night. This plant does not like wet feet, water the soil so it is evenly moist during the growing season then water sparingly the rest of the year until new growth appears in spring. The plant can be damaged by over or underwatering, or too much light. Propagate Thanksgiving Cactus by twisting off a stem segment in spring and place it upright in moistened perlite.

If you are on a tight budget but want to grow the size of your garden, use what you already have available in your garden. Think swapping seeds, plants, or bulbs either locally, or seek out gardening forums with swap sections on the site. You’d be surprised how much seed and bulbs are traded or given away by members who have too much in their garden. Seed swapping is as easy as a self-addressed, stamped envelope mailed for trading or receiving free seed. If you have an excess of seed or plants grow your own and sell them at a farmers market, or add to your own garden. Read up on how to propagate your own shrubs from cuttings, a little hormone powder, some baggies to create moisture, and you are on your way to creating new plants. If you aren’t the best at saving seed or propagating via cuttings, sometimes taking a piece of plant, such as a fuchsia, is easy enough to root in a glass of water, it only requires patience. Do a little research online to find out how you can build on your garden, join gardening communities, and always be ready to learn more about gardening.

Climbers and shrubs can be propagated by layering a branch of the plant to the ground, fastening it with a metal peg or fastener sitting over the branch or stem, then mounding dirt over it. Keep the mounded soil and soil around the layered plant moist. Over time the branch or stem will take root, creating a new plant from the original plant. When growth is apparent and of decent size, separate the new plant from the original plant and plant out in the garden. Climbers and shrubs that respond well to layering include clematis, ivy, lilac, akebia, campsis, and winter jasmine.

BBC Gardener’s World magazine had a suggestion for gardeners who would like to grow more privet for hedges. I have not tried this myself on my privet hedge, but the suggestion is that a reasonable sized cutting of privet stuck in the ground will actually root and grow quickly on its own. My privet hedge is extremely hardy and grows fast during summer, spring or early summer may be a good choice to plant more privet. The simple cut and stick method can be tried in order to replace privet that has died back or to create a new hedge, which would no doubt need a number of cuttings to make a long hedge.

Nasturtiums are one of those plants that are easy to grow and produce a great deal of seed once established in your garden. After flowering has finished the nasturtium leaves a green pea sized seed that you can harvest the seed by picking it off the flower vine. Sometimes seeds fall to the ground and dry, you may find brown seeds below the nasturtium vine. Generally I dry mine out in a greenhouse or warm location, sitting the seeds in a big wide container. When the seeds turn brown and wrinkle they are ready to plant. Once the nasturstiums are established in an area they will self-seed readily, keeping your garden filled with colorful flowers.