We are hopefully going to move house this summer, so for the last year I have concentrated on turning my current plants into as many more plants as possible, either by taking cuttings, dividing perennials or sowing seed. I’ve also discovered that this is actually what I really like about gardening – I find my four little wiegelas and my six baby irises immensely satisfying. I’ve had successes and failures though, as follows:
1) Cuttings. My softwood cuttings from the big jasmine were taken last year and planted straight into damp compost. Three of them took and are now two foot high. I also tried softwood cuttings from the smaller jasmine, but these just died – it’s a less vigorous plant, which may make a difference. This spring I took cuttings from new growth on the wiegela and the rosemary and planted them into a 50:50 mix of vermiculite and compost. Every single one of these (four of each) took and they are now growing strongly in larger pots. I thought about buying some rooting hormone, but it is nasty stuff (don’t allow near children, pets and drains) and I think these successes make it redundant. I’ll definitely use vermiculite for cuttings in future.
2) Seed. I bought 25 packets of flower seed from the RHS for £10 and have had mixed results. The varieties are not necessarily the type of things you’d normally try and germinate yourself, and they require a range of specialist conditions and germination periods. I have six siberian flag irises, which are a few inches tall, as well as some young sisyrinchiums and salvias (from seeds from my own garden). I’ve also got one scabious, one honesty and lots of foxgloves. My allium seedlings died – possibly due to the cold spring, or maybe I over-watered them.
3) Division. The greatest success here is the daisies – I have loads of them, in the beds and in various pots. I also cut out some bits of penstemon, which took well, and split a gnarly lupin that was refusing to flower last year to good effect (I now have three plants that do flower).
4) What comes naturally. I spend a lot of time digging verbena seedlings out of the garden (or the lawn) and potting them on – they often wither to begin with but are pretty robust. And every strawberry in my garden is from the single plant I was given about four years ago. I love Cambridge Favourites.
