I’m a propagator and I didn’t even know it!
Recently I took David King’s propagation class at the Venice Learning Garden. It was so fun. Not only was I surrounded by people of my ilk (i.e., plant geeks), but I learned so much. The most challenging thing was doing the different grafts. I’m happy to say that my little ‘Dorsett Golden’ apple successfully grafted onto it’s root stock. We also learned about propagation through cuttings, division, seed planting etc…. Since I have already admitted to being a horribly lazy gardener it should come as no surprise that I really perked up when David talked about propagation through layering. You mean all I have to do is scratch off a little of the outer stem near a node, lay that part down (still attached to the mother plant) in some good soil so it makes contact and I could get another plant? I’m in! Today I was puttering around in my typical Sunday afternoon manner when I noticed the unruly Penstemon I was pruning had little roots growing out of the stem in places. Wow, this plant really wanted to propagate itself. I then noticed some of the stems had already made contact with the soil and made a new plant. Now if that isn’t the answer for the lazy propagator I don’t know what is. I decided to contribute a little by securing some stems to the ground with a metal stake and a stone.