propagation

One of my favorite things to do is propagate plants.  I love nothing more than a free plant.  I've researched and tried LAYERING, which works well for certain types of plants.  But the first thing I try is always to just take a cutting, put it in water, and wait for it to root.  I learned this technique from my Daddy.  There were always rooting stems and cuttings in our kitchen window sill.

For plants like sage and rosemary, this is fairly easy.  Just take a cutting from a "green" stem, one that's not quite "woody" yet, and within a week or so, roots will start to form at the cut end.  I've successfully made new plants from several varieties of house plants, jade, ivy, lavender, verbena, etc.

These cuttings were taken two weeks ago from a sage plant.

I've had the same sage plant for 6 years. They really only like to live about three years. They get tired I guess. I continue to take cuttings and plant them around the garden after they've rooted. I have several generations scattered around the yard.

They are very easy to grow, smell great, and are good for cooking.

this season's first geranium blossom

So this past winter, my overwintering geranium was getting leggy, reaching for the light.  In late January, I clipped some of the long pieces and put them in a vase of water to see if they would root. 

Two months later.....

Finally!  It's begun to root!

I've never seen a plant take this long to send out a root!  I've actually tried to root geranium before but have given up because time goes by and nothing happens.  But this time, I was so busy, time got away from me and it actually rooted!

It just goes to show...good things come to those who wait.