Thanks to cuttings, it is possible to vegetate your garden, terrace or balcony without buying new plants from the garden center since you just have to use what you already have. This is a solution that many gardeners resort to because it allows them to have more and more plants without spending a penny. Cuttings are indeed a very simple method to create new plants identical to the mother plant. Here is a selection of 10 splendid plants, ultra easy to cut, to sublimate your natural setting for free even if you do not have a great experience in gardening.
1 – Cut Pelargonium and Geranium
Often confused, they have different characteristics but are part of the family of Geraniaceae. Whether you want to cut a Pelargonium or even a Geranium, never mind, it’s as simple for one as for the other. There are many varieties, available in various shapes and colors and the foliage also varies. This allows you to take advantage of a profusion of flowers from May until frost.
These plants do well in open ground what about pots and plantersand do not hesitate either to take cuttings from hanging varieties such as the Geranium ivy (Pelargonium X ivy leaf), the most beautiful effect in the suspensions.
The principle of Pelargonium or Geranium cuttings consists of taking in summer some healthy and very green stems which have never flowered yet. We must then resize each stem under a node and remove the leaves that develop on the node that we keep. The cuttings are then planted in small pots filled with seed compost and sand. All that remains is to install them in the shade and then to water with rain once every three days or so.
In autumn the cuttings are at transplant in larger pots and overwinter in a cool, bright place. They will flower from next spring.
2 – Cut the Bougainvillea
Beneath its delicate appearance, Bougainvillea is very easy to take cuttings. This is good news for gardeners in love with this beautiful Mediterranean plant whose flowers seem to be carved from crumpled paper. Sublime, the mauve, pink, red, orange, purple or white Bougainvillea is relatively expensive.
We therefore do not hesitate to multiply it knowing that the best period for taking cuttings is from the end of August to the end of September, in other words when summer is coming to an end. The young stems are only replanted to clone the mother plant when their roots are very well developed. We therefore wait for the following spring, keeping the cuttings warm during the winter and pampering them.
3 – Cut the Honeysuckle
To create a garden where one enjoys as much the beauty as the fragrance of the many flowers, the Honeysuckle really has a major role to play. Can easily be propagated by cuttings climbing honeysuckles and the shrub honeysuckles. Those with evergreen foliage multiply easily if the cuttings are taken during the second half of summernot beyond the end of September, and those with deciduous foliage take cuttings in winterbetween January and February.
The cuttings taken in summer are to be planted in threes in a pot containing a mixture of sand and universal potting soil, and which are then placed in a makeshift greenhouse (smothered) to be kept closed for 20 days. Thereafter, we bury the pot sheltered from the wind and cover it with a thick mulch. In the spring, all that remains is to transplant the new honeysuckles in the desired place. Note that the winter cuttings of a deciduous honeysuckle are planted directly in the ground when the tree has lost its foliage.
4 – Cutting a Rosebush
Who has never dreamed of creating a sumptuous royal or wild rose garden ? You just need to already have a few plants of different varieties to multiply them at will and green your natural space like no other in order to make it absolutely fabulous quickly and free of charge.
English roses for flowerbeds, standard roses for the edges of the driveway, climbing roses to dress the facade, a pergola or the old fence wall, miniature roses to magnify the window sills… Without spending money, from from your own rosebushes it is possible to easily create the most beautiful rose garden thanks to cuttings.
5 – Take a cutting from a Belle-de-Nuit
A simple stem of this Mirabilis jalapa soaked in water for a few weeks can get a new foot. The best time to take Belle-de-Nuit stems for cuttings is August. But you should also know that this plant very often nicknamed Wonder of Peru multiplies spontaneously from year to year. There is therefore no nothing to do it’s a good wizard to vegetate your garden for free if not let nature take its course…
6 – Cutting a Chrysanthemum
Of the month March to June the period favorable to the cuttings of the Chrysanthemum takes place. To multiply these plants, we take as many branches of the year as necessary, knowing that each one will quickly give a new Chrysanthemum, a perfect clone of the mother plant. The vigorous stems taken are to be planted in a box of moist compost which is then covered with a plastic bag or a specific bell so that the plants are kept smothered.
After 21 days, if you have thought about airing your plants every day, the plastic can be removed. The new little Chrysanthemums should have roots. They can be transplanted into pots where they will continue to grow until autumn, which is the ideal time to plant them in the desired location.
7 – Cutting a Begonia
Thanks to cuttings, a very simple method of plant multiplication, it is easy to vegetate your garden beyond your expectations with the Begonia. Take a few stems from your favorite Begonia and place them with a charcoal cube in a jar containing water. leave the jar firm until roots appear. You can also simply plant the stems taken in a cuttings compost.
Note that some varieties of begonias are even able to multiply from a sheet which, after its incision, must simply be placed on a rich and humid substrate! This is the case of Begonia Rex, royal with its decorative foliage.
8 – Bouturer un Hortensia
It’s child’s play that allows you to quickly obtain many absolutely identical hydrangea plants. The collection of stems that do not bear flowers takes place in summer. All you have to do is plant them in biodegradable pots filled with compost, install them at the foot of the mother plant. It is necessary to maintain a slight humidity by watering with a single glass of water. This should be enough for a good twenty days if care is taken to create a smothered environment with a plastic bottle that is removed after a week. Then, when new little leaves appear, all that remains is to transplant the new hydrangeas and protect them from the winter cold.
9 – Cut a Passionflower
How wonderful this vine ! It is absolutely essential for greening your garden because it easily climbs on a makeshift support. Just cut a young stem of the year then install it in a vase containing water until roots appear, or plant it in a mixture of sand and potting soil. For good results, choose a stem with three or four nodes.
10 – Cut the oleander
It is very quickly that the oleander stems simply placed in a bottle of water form roots. In this way, a new shrub is obtained for each cutting stem in the month of August preferably. Its repotting in a compost is done after a few months. Easy, right? You can thus install the laurels at the edge of the property to form a pretty hedge that evokes sunny regions or replant your cuttings in a Mediterranean massif…
A bit of rooting hormone, a good pair of scissors, a bottle of water or a few biodegradable cups, special compost for cuttings and a bit of sand constitute the panoply largely sufficient to multiply all his favorite plants by cuttings, and those that have been spotted in acquaintances whose garden is full of magnificent plants.
Of course we do not forget to remove some leaves on the selected stems in order to limit the risk of dehydration of the cuttings. Similarly, many green-fingered gardeners opt for smothered cuttings, which consist of placing a plastic bag on the pot. This is very useful because it creates a warm and humid atmosphere.