I can blame this wave of inspiration totally on my blogger friend Ros over at Missy's Garden who is moving into a new home. She started making cuttings of all her favourite plants from her old garden to take with her to her new garden. Seeing how well her cuttings were growing, I thought I'd try my "impatient" hand at it as well.
When I visited my friend Joyce's garden a couple of weeks ago, I came away with a few cuttings for my experiment.
Among them were dracaenas and ginger lilies.
I brought them home and got to work. I cut the tops off of two soda bottles, and stuck the dracaena cuttings in some water to root.
I faithfully remembered to change the water every two days and I was rewarded with nice strong roots in about 10 days.
Dracaena cuttings with lots of new roots
The ginger lilies started out as tiny suckers from the mother plant.
Disturbing them while they're so tiny can be hazardous so it was best to pot them up as they were.
They're coming along nicely.
I also decided that I wanted to plant some pink ginger lilies along with the white ones.
Somehow it seems that my pink ginger lilies no longer show their faces in the side garden bed after the rogue heliconias took over. It was time to give them another try.
Pink ginger lily
The baby pink ginger lilies still attached to the mother plant
I also decided to make some cuttings of a polyscia (ming aralia) plant that I have planted along the inside of the front wall. I want a nice thick hedge, but it's a slow growing plant, so I will have to fill in the spaces between the ones already planted with baby cuttings. This will be done as soon as the April showers arrive...I hope they come soon....they're a bit late.
Polyscias guilfoylei "Victoriae" shrub cuttings.
The leaves of this variety have an ivy-like appearance.
I hope that these extra cuttings will grow at warp speed and fill in all the empty spaces in the hedge.
Knowing my luck, once I'm generating keen interest in their steady growth, they will decide to grow at a snail's pace.
You know what they say, "Watch pot never boil." I may have to pretend that I don't care what they do, and that way they may just surprise me.
Wish me luck.
Your cuttings look like they are powering ahead. It won't take long at all for them to be gracing your garden, I love those pink ginger lilies. Wish they grew that well here.
ReplyDeleteI hope they continue to do well once they're planted in the ground.
DeleteThe pink and white ginger lilies will be pretty once they're in bloom together.
I wish you every success. I shall soon know when I get back to Lewis how all my cuttings from last year have withstood the winter.
ReplyDeleteI'm keeping my fingers and toes crossed for you that all your cuttings have survived and are ready to be planted in your garden.
DeleteI have those pink gingers, right next to some heleconias - thanks for the warning. I have never seen them in white, but I have the red here too which are more common. I often take an old flower (still attached) as it starts to shoot and then secure it with a metal u shape into a pot alongside the mother plant. This gives it a great start, and you can eventually cut the mother plant away and will have a new plant already growing in the pot.
ReplyDeleteYes, the red gingers are prolific here, and I have a small patch in the bottom bed.
DeleteI love the look of the pink and white ginger lilies together.
I will be separating the bed with large blocks to avoid having the heliconia roots go astray again.
I wish you luck! :) I used to be more into seeds and cuttings when I was younger (and had less problems carrying home bags of soil etc). One does feel proud when one succeeds, doesn't one?
ReplyDelete
DeleteThanks, I can't wait to get them planted into the soil and watch them grow big and tall.
Good luck! I don't grow much from cuttings and need to learn more about it. I think it might the way I entertain (torture) myself next winter. ;o) I hope Brazen leaves your cuttings alone!
ReplyDeleteOh Tammy you have outdone yourself with your seed sowing success, so I continue to be in awe of your efforts.
DeleteBrazen won't be able to get near the cuttings, they're safely stored in the inner garage.