How to Get Free
Plants

By Sally Snipes and Carol Nagy Jacklin

It's planting time. If you are changing your garden or adding to it, the cost of plants adds up fast. But you can cut these expenses by starting (propagating) plants yourself. The methods are often easy and available to beginning and advanced gardeners alike. We want to talk about common means of propagation and the plants that are easiest to propagate. We hope to get you started on the joys of getting free plants for your garden.

Divisions

A great time to divide plants is after rainstorms. Fibrous-rooted plants, such as asters, are easily dug up and pulled apart or cut into pieces that will establish quickly. If you have some tightly packed roots, hose off the soil so you can more easily see the natural lines of division. Sedums are easily divided as are coreopsis, veronica and Shasta daisies. Fleshy-rooted perennials, such as day lilies, can be divided the same way. They are a little less forgiving; you may lose some in the division.

Some plants form clumps. Dormant lilacs divide beautifully. Old peony clumps find new vigor when cut in parts with at least 3 to 5 eyes (buds) and given rich soil to grow in. Some plants, like saxifrage (Saxifraga), produce new plantlets around the parent plant. Each of these plantlets can be carefully removed and planted on its own. There you are--free plants.

Many bulbs are easily divided. If your daffodils were crowded this spring, wait until their leaves begin to dry. When the leaves are completely yellow, they are no longer feeding the bulb for next year's foliage and flowers. Dig them up and replant them where you would like some new daffodils. You can also dry the bulbs out and replant them in the fall. But you will have a better success rate if you replant them the day you divide them. Otherwise, they are apt to be forgotten on a garage shelf.

Softwood Cuttings

The new shoots of a plant are called softwood - literally soft, but almost fully developed. With plants such as chrysanthemums, you can cut off a few inches from the top of a plant, stick the cutting into the ground and within a few weeks (with some water and good soil), you will have two chrysanthemum plants. Even better, the original mum will be fuller and provide more blossoms than if you hadn't touched it. Other plants that respond well to softwood cuttings are sedum, coleus and artemisia. Many other plants will develop from softwood cuttings with a little extra care. Hydrangea or impatiens softwood cuttings need to be kept damp, but with good soil and even moisture, you can increase your hydrangea or impatiens supply.

Some plant propagators swear by rooting hormones (powder or liquid) to stimulate new rootlets. Others don't find any difference if they use rooting hormones or not. Do some experiments of your own, see what results you get, and let us know.

Hardwood Cuttings

Long lengths of fully mature young stems are called hardwood cuttings. They come from deciduous woody plants and are best cut before new growth starts in the spring. Willows, roses and grapes are easy to start from hardwood cuttings. If you can time your grape pruning before new growth starts, you can turn those cuttings into new plants simply by putting them into the ground and keeping them watered. Try to have two or three buds below the ground and two buds above the ground on each cutting.

Be sure to put the end that came from the root end of the cutting into the earth or it won't take. To help remember which is the root end, cut the stem on a diagonal at the bottom.

General hints on Cuttings

It's easy to make cuttings. But how successful they will be depends on several things. Some plants produce roots easily, others don't. If the parent plant is healthy, your chances of success are higher. If the parent has a disease, it can be passed on to the offspring. Material taken from young plants, especially in a period of active growth, is usually more likely to root. Water the parent plant thoroughly a few hours beforehand so that the tissue is fully turgid, especially for leafy cuttings.

How long it takes for a cutting to root depends on the plant, the type of cutting, the age of the stem, how it was prepared and the rooting environment. Leafy cuttings root in about three weeks; woody cuttings can take up to five months.

Layering

Many kinds of ivy produce plantlets along their runners. The parent nourishes the plantlets until they root into the soil. This process of laying down roots on runners is called self-layering. Rooted stems are easily lifted and divided. Strawberry plants, ajuga and many weeds, like Bermuda grass, naturally self-layer.

You can help other plants produce new plants by forcing layering. For example, a long low branch of a fig tree, pyracantha, ceanothus, manzanita or cotoneaster can be buried in two or three places and held down with weights. These buried sections will often develop root systems and will grow happily if cut into separate plants.

Planting Self-Seeders

This is not technically propagation, but it is a way to get free plants next year. Consider planting seeds or a few six-packs of plants that are known to self-seed. Alyssum is a good example. If you plant alyssum once, you probably will never have to plant it again. It sends its seeds hither and thither in your garden. And if there are areas where you don't want the small flowers, the plant can easily be pulled out. If there are places where it isn't seeding but you want it to, you have only to cut a plant that has gone to seed and vigorously shake it over an area. Other self-seeders include lunaria, feverfew, annual scabiosa, calendulas, Johnny jump-ups and Queen Ann's lace. Be cautious with Queen Ann's lace. It can be invasive and it isn't easy to pull up, so if it sows itself in an area where you don't want it, it could be classified as a weed.

You will find that self-seeders thrive in one place but not in another. So be sure to plant them in two to five locations before thinking that they won't work for you.

We've tried to give some general guidelines on getting free plants. Many good books cover the topic of plant propagation. We especially recommend The American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation: Expert Guidance on the Propagation of over 1,500 garden plants. It is available at the library.

If you don't have a particular plant, you can't use it to get cuttings. But you can trade cuttings of plants that you have for others that you want. Perhaps some of your gardening friends have the plants you want. Go to plant exchanges. Garden clubs all over the county advertise these in the spring and in the fall. Or plant self-seeders. They will start you on your free plants in just one year.

Enjoy the plants and planting, the full rush of spring is on the way!