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One way to expand your garden is by growing new plants from cuttings. A couple of years ago I decided to give rooting powder a try, and I ended up settling on the Miracle Gro FastRoot rooting powder. Years later it has resulted in many new plants growing in my garden from hibiscus to roses to rosemary and basil.
Yesterday morning the kids and I went on a four-mile walk and we ended up picking up several new cuttings to start. WE picked up some coleus, pentas and more.
Sometimes we're successful and sometimes we're not. A couple of weeks ago we went on a five mile walk from the beach to downtown, and while we were walking we picked up a few of my daughter's favorite tropical plant the croton. She loves how the leaves of the croton crumble and twist, and in the past we have been successful to get a few croton plants to grow from cuttings.
When we are on our walk, we usually wrap our cuttings in a piece of wet paper towel,transferring these to a glass of water, as soon as we reach home. Then when we're ready later that day or the next, we cut the stems at an angle, dip the ends in the rooting hormone, and then we stick it in a container with potting soil.
We then water the cuttings well, cover the pot with a clear plastic bag with a few holes in it, and then we let it sit. We check on it after a few days, water if needed, and then let it sit there for at least two weeks.
Today, three weeks after planting the croton cuttings together with a few other cuttings, we checked on the pot. Only the croton survived, but we now have three more plants than we did before our little plant experiment.
The croton had a strong root system after three weeks, and these were ready to be replanted.
We planted the new croton plants in one of the free planter we received free from an estate sale. We'd filled the planter with compost from our compost bin, which seems to be the best growing medium we can come by.
In this planter we also added the cuttings from yesterday's trip, as we did not want to bring these inside. Only time will tell whether they will successfully root, but we are sure that the crotons will now thrive in their new home.
You can find our favorite growing powder on Amazon.
Take a look at our planter 2 months after planting. The plants are doing great, and we are so excited to have these new additions to our garden. We will leave them in the planter until the spring, so that we can move them around in case of a cold spell this first year.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
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